This word is used for cod fish in Spanish and Portuguese, and has no resemblance to either Cod, as the fish is called in English or Torsk as it is called in Norway. Considering that Cod is native to the arctic waters of the North Sea and Barent Sea, it is strange that the word for this fish on the Iberian Peninsula is Bacalao.
A major hint to where the word comes from can be found in old sea maps where Portuguese and Spanish sailors put an island called Tera Bacalao up in the arctic.
Another hint is the fact that the German and Dutch language use the word Kabeljau for Cod.
The two words Bacalao and Kabeljau are clearly related. They are mere mispronunciations of each other.
Then there is the fact that it was the Hanseatic League that controlled the cod fish trade in the middle ages. Those were German speaking traders. The word they used was therefore Kabeljau.
Since the Spanish and Portuguese bought the fish from the German speaking traders, it is most likely that the Iberians got the word from the Hansas.
Finally we have the important fact that the major producers of dried cod were located at Kabelvåg in the Lofoten archipelago.
The Iberians were in other words entirely correct in locating Terra Bacalao in the Arctic.
Since the Iberians most likely mispronounced Kabeljau, their mythical island should more correctly be called Terra Kabeljau.
What appears to have happened is that the Hansa Traders had a preference for cod fish dried and processed in Kabelvåg. Top quality cod fish was synonymous with Kabelvåg. Kabelvåg became Kabeljau through a mild mispronunciation by the Hansas, and Kabeljau became in turn Bacalao when pronounced by the Iberians.
Bacalao is in other words a mispronunciation of the village of Kabelvåg, the original center of production for dried Cod.
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