The name Sorède comes from Latin suber: cork, which is added the suffix-eta, giving subereta "forest of cork oaks". There are many names with the same origin throughout the Roussillon. Sorède is mentioned in the ninth century under the name Suvereda, this name became safe and Sureda, (Sorède French) in the eighteenth century.
The territory of Sorède includes 3460 hectares including 850 lowland between 38 and 120 meters, and 2610 hectares of mountains between 120 and 1257 m altitude (two-thirds of the total territory). There are two main two valleys: the valley of La Fargue, better known as "Happy Valley" to the west and Lavail valley to the east. The highlight of the town is the peak Neulos (1257 meters). There are two rivers: River Sorède the Tassio and Massane. The village is built in the foothills of the mountains on both sides of Tassio.
The origins of the village are difficult to date. It would appear that the site has been occupied since the Neolithic Era. It is first mentioned in the year 898 in a legal register where it is known as locum Sunvereta. The feudal castle was built around the year 950. In 1175 King Alfonso II of Aragon made Count Durban the Lord of Sorède and his lineage continued until 1264. Then Jacques I of Aragon gave the lordship to Arnaud Castelnou, which his wife Béatrice de Château-Roussillon inherited at his death. But in 1344 Peter IV of Aragon dispossessed Jacques II of Majorca and appointed lord of Rocasalva over Sorède. In 1598 it was owned by Gaston de Foix and Béarn Damoiseau Perpignan. His wife Jeanne de Vilaplana succeed him and caused the destruction of the old castle of Ultrère in 1675. The lordship then pass to the family of Oms by marriage of the daughter of Jeanne de Vilaplana with Jean d'Oms. François-Xavier was last lord of Sorède up to the Revolution. The emblem of the village is an uprooted oak in gold, referring to the etymology of the name Sorède.
