History of the Sabbath and First Day of the Week - John N. Andrews

they distinguished themselves from other people by
wearing shoes marked on the upper part with some
peculiarity. Is it likely that people who could not
descend from their mountains without hazarding
their lives through the furious zeal of the
inquisitors, should tempt danger by affixing a
visible mark on their shoes? Besides the shoe of the
peasants happens to be famous in this country; it
was of a different fashion, and was called
abarca."[28]
Mr. Robinson rejects these three statements,
and then gives his own judgment that they were so
called because they lived in the mountains.
These four views cover all that has been
advanced relative to the meaning of these names.
But Robinson's own explanation is purely
fanciful, and seems to have been adopted by no
other writer. He offers, however, conclusive
reasons for rejecting the statement that they took
their name from their shoes. There remain,
therefore, only the first and second of these four
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