There are two versions, but the second is the one we like. If we were to take etymology and elevate it to the category of science, it would be to say that it is the most inconsequential science possible. And the reader of these lines will agree with me through or from this example: if the Boqueria is visited daily by about 25 thousand people, what does it change that they know the origin of its name?
In this case, it does not change anything. But one feels inclined towards intrascendence and it is appetizing to tell this story. Be that as it may, there are two possible etymological origins. But in both cases a very brief historical introduction is necessary.
The sources I have consulted to write this article say that the first documents that refer to the Boquería date from 1217. But the references speak of the Boqueria more as a concept than as a precise place. And in those documents it is said that merchants, traders and peasants sold at the gates of the city to avoid having to pay taxes within the city walls. The zorrería of the time.
One version (the one that is not crazy, the one that is more plausible and consequently more aseptic and bland) says that these people -above all, the Jewish community- sold their goods at the gates of the city.
above all, the Jewish community – sold, mainly, kid meat. And it turns out that, in old Catalan, cabrito is boc. And from boc, boquería. Well, that’s good. Sounds good.
The second version, the one we like and dare to call crazy, refers to Ramón Berenguer. Ramón Berenguer (one of all, I think the IV) was Count of Barcelona. Berenguer, from the conquest of Almeria in 1147, brought back a souvenir. This souvenir was a door.
Berenguer put the door in Santa Eulàlia and those who went to buy boc (or whatever) at the stalls at the entrance, were dumbfounded. Or, better: boquibadats. And from boquibadats, Boquería. Although in line with this phonetic deformation, there is another theory. Boquería comes from badoquería (nonsense, more or less) because people were stunned when they were in front of the souvenirs brought by Ramón Berenguer.