I threw away my gamaschen just a few days before the rains started. First I carried them along for 600 kilometers through Spain. Gamaschen - do you know what I'm talking about? I've always loved this word, but the sound is strange to. Now I found this word is of Arabian origin! Which makes the connection of this subject to the Camino possible: many, many words in European languages found their origin in Arabic. And Islamic Spain is the most important source of this. Quite common words like coffee, spinach, alcohol, admiral, albatros, cheque, soda. And orange.
Al-Andalus is the beautiful and mystic name of the wealthy kalifat in Southern Spain, that brought us so many treasures in knowledge, arts, architecture and so on. The Moors reigned there for many centuries, and the Reconquista (conquering back the land on the Islamic invaders) dominated Spanish history for centuries.
Back to the gamaschen: it was originally a kind of 'overshoe' , worn to protect stockings. And
they were made of leather. Through French and the Provencal language we borrowed the word from the Spanish guadameci (a soft kind of leather). This was taken over again from the Arabic (djild) ghadamisi- leather from the town of Gadames in Lybia. The gamaschen were worn a lot until the 17. Century. Later the word wasn't used anymore, but came back from German since mountain- and snowsports came up. Nowadays you wear them to protect your shoes from getting soaked in rain or snow.
And, yes indeed, you may need gamaschen on the Camino. You could pick up mine in one of the Galician albergues.
Source: Koffie, kaffer en katoen. Arabische leenwoorden in het Nederlands, written by Marlies Philippa.
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