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Origin

We know that the Segarra surname has information about its heraldry, history and genealogy.

The Segarra surname has a heraldic shield or Spanish coat of arms, certified by the Chronicler and Dean King of Arms Don Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent.

Although there is no record of people with the Segarra surname proving their nobility in the Royal Chancery of Valladolid, this does not rule out their nobility or the proof of nobility in other Chanceries and Military Orders of the Iberian Peninsula, France or Latin America.

It is known that the Segarra have or had residency, among other places, in:

* Basque Country and/or Navarre.

* Aragon.

* Galicia.

* Catalonia.

About the origin of this surname there is a legend that some authors refer to. The legend has its origins in the mid-ninth century and early tenth century, when the bizarre Biscayans who tenaciously defended their mountains against the attacks of the 'Moors' (Moor is a term of popular and colloquial use, which may or may not have pejorative connotations, depending on both the sender and the receiver, to designate, without clear distinction between religion, ethnicity or culture, the natives of northwest Africa or Maghreb), chose as leader Iñigo Lopez (c. 1028-1079), a powerful and brave knight better known as 'Zuria' and considered the first Lord of Biscay.

A descendant of his, named Juan Zuriena, captain of a hundred men, came to the aid of the King of Navarre Sancho Garcés III, or (c. 992-1036) of his descendant Ramiro I, King of Aragon (c.1006-1063) in the battles he was sustaining against the infidels on the banks of a river in the territory of the future crown of Aragon. During the fight the men of Zuriena put into practice a new offensive weapon that they had invented as a crossbow, with which they threw on the enemy such a quantity of pebbles and with such violence, that they put the enemy in hasty flight. In memory of this feat Juan Zuriena took the nickname of Sagar, which in Basque (proto-Basque; Trask, Larry R. (2008). in Max W. Wheeler: Etymological Dictionary of Basque. Sussex: University of Sussex) means pebble or apple tree (see attached note), and his descendants continued to use it until it became a surname.

***NOTE: it is not clear if the nickname Sagar is due to the new crossbow that threw pebbles or that the battle that was held against the Muslims took place on the banks of the river Sió (this river is a tributary of the river Segre on its left bank) and this area was a field of apple trees.

This is how the legend refers to the origin of this lineage, a very doubtful origin and of impossible verification. However, it seems clear that its origin was in Vizcaya, but not with the antiquity to which the legend goes back.

In Biscay there were noble houses in the town of Bilbao, in the Merindad de Uribe and in the Duranguesado, all surnamed Sagar, and from them must have come, according to their coats of arms, those who passed to Aragon, remaining there established and surnamed Segarra. In Catalonia also settled families with the surname Sagarra.

Thus, with time, this surname passed from the Basque Country to Aragonese lands, where it is documented since the late Middle Ages. To this lineage belonged Don Martin de Sagarra, who was Justice of Aragon.

On the other hand, the recognized linguist Mr. Francesc de Borja Moll, indicates that Segarra and Sagarra are the same surname and it is the name of a Catalan region. The word is probably of pre-Roman origin (it may be from the Proto-Basque 'sagar', 'apple tree'). Borja Moll classified the surname in the toponymic group, however, he did not take into account its Basque origin, probably due to political and cultural biases (see contemporary socio-political conflict in the Catalan Community).

As we approach the contemporary period, this surname was usually adopted by people who were from the region of Segarra (for example Josep de la Segarra) its variants Sagarra, de Sagarra or de Segarra could become the same surname, since in Catalan Segarra is pronounced with a neutral e that sounds like an a, that is why when writing the surname some wrote it with a and others with e (considering it neutral) and some put the 'de' (which indicates origin) and others did not.

COAT OF ARMS

The coat of arms is: Of gold, with four bands of azure, and bordure of gules, plain.

The most widespread coat of arms: In a field of gold, three bands of azure.

The shield alias: In a field of sinople, an open book, the covers of gold, a silver sword, with the high garrison, that hangs through the middle of the book, and this one crowned with four silver fleurs-de-lis.

Bibliography

The different bibliographies that collect the origin, meaning, history and coat of arms of the Segarra surname:

* Repertorio de Blasones de la Comunidad Hispánica, del Cronista y Decano Rey de Armas Don Vicente de Cadenas y Vicent.

* Armorial Général de Johan Baptiste Rietstap. Contiene blasones (escudos), origenes de apellidos y nobleza

* El dibujo del escudo o escudos correspondientes al apellido Segarra, así como su origen se encuentra también en el Gran Diccionario Gráfico de Blasones.

* Nobiliario Español, de Julio de Atienza.

* El Solar catalán, valenciano y balear, de los hermanos García Carraffa.

* El Solar Vasco Navarro, de los hermanos Arturo y Alberto García Carraffa.

* Enciclopedia Hispanoamericana de Heráldica, Genealogía y Onomástica, de los hermanos Arturo y Alberto García Carraffa.

* Los Apellidos en Canarias, de Carlos Platero Fernández.

* Blasonario de la Consanguinidad ibérica.

* Valero de Bernabé y Martín de Eugenio, Luis, Armorial del Reino de Galicia: Blasones Gentilicios Galaicos, pag 201.

* Atienza y Navajas, Julio de, Nobiliario español: diccionario heráldico de apellidos españoles y de títulos nobiliarios, Ed. Aguilar, 1948 pag 694.

- aguila.asc