Toponimia y paisaje en Fuentecén, Guzmán y La Sequera de Haza, tres territorios de la Ribera del Duero burgalesa (España)

The study of toponymy in Fuentecén, Guzmán, and La Sequera de Haza is part of a research project focused on these three territories in the province of Burgos, highlighting the value of intangible heritage in a social context that is no longer the one in which it was created and maintained. The depopulation of rural areas leads to an ever-decreasing knowledge of place names, which means that their survival depends on their cartographic and documentary record. The research was conducted through a bibliographic review and cartographic analysis, based on the Nomenclator of Castilla y León, available cartography, and fieldwork. The geographical context is outlined beforehand, and the results analyze the toponyms with brief references to their etymology and meaning. Their classification into thirteen semantic fields allows statistical and comparative treatment between the three areas mentioned, both overall toponymic density of each one, as well as that of some fields of their classification. This demonstrates how the orography, hydrology, and socio-economic characteristics of each town have conditioned the predominance of certain semantic fields. The contribution made by informants from Fuentecén is equivalent to 44.4% of the total number of toponyms extracted in this locality, which represents a discreet level of the survival of this cultural heritage, considering the rural exodus of its population from the second half of the last century, and the lifestyle changes.