According to philologists and historians, it is likely that the word 'Trevelez' comes from the Latin one inter valles, which means 'among valleys' and refers to the valleys of the rivers of the municipality.
There are other traditional explanations to that- three brothers with the surname of Velez built their own homes in three different places of this area, which eventually resulted in the three quarters of Trevelez. According to this, the word 'Trevelez' means 'three quarters'.
In the Alpujarra Alta region, where Trevelez is, no historic remains dating before the Arab period have been found, and therefore we cannot know if there were Phoenitian, Roman or Visigoth settlements there before- However, the fact that the town has a Latin name suggests that perhaps there were Roman settlements in the area.
In addition to this, one of the oldest archaeological beds in Alpujarra Alta is in Trevelez- it is a tombstone with an Mozarab inscription from the 9th century, today displayed in the Alhambra museum.
