Germanía
Encyclopedia
Germanía is the Spanish
term for the argot
used by criminals
or in jails
in Spain
during 15th and 16th centuries. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation. The ultimate origin of the word is the Latin word germanus, through Catalan germà (brother).
Some documentation for it occurs in picaresque works as early as the Spanish Golden Century, such as in Quevedo's
El Buscón
. Some writers used it in poetry for comical effect.
After the arrival of the Roma people and their frequent imprisonment, germanía incorporated much vocabulary from Romany and its descendant, the caló
jargon. As time passed, several words entered popular use and even standard Spanish, losing their value for secrecy. Germanía survives today in the cheli
jargon.
irmandade and Castilian hermandad) originated from the name of certain communities in Valencia, Spain
, which made themselves notorious by rebelling against the local nobility
during the sixteenth century. Subsequently, the term referred to the argot used by these communities and, eventually, it referred to improper argot.
Captain Alatriste
series make use of germanía. Pérez-Reverte gave a speech on the subject of germanía to the Real Academia Española de la Lengua after they invited him to join the academy for the work he had done on the series.
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
term for the argot
Argot
An Argot is a secret language used by various groups—including, but not limited to, thieves and other criminals—to prevent outsiders from understanding their conversations. The term argot is also used to refer to the informal specialized vocabulary from a particular field of study, hobby, job,...
used by criminals
Crime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
or in jails
Prison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
during 15th and 16th centuries. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation. The ultimate origin of the word is the Latin word germanus, through Catalan germà (brother).
Some documentation for it occurs in picaresque works as early as the Spanish Golden Century, such as in Quevedo's
Francisco de Quevedo
Francisco Gómez de Quevedo y Santibáñez Villegas was a Spanish nobleman, politician and writer of the Baroque era. Along with his lifelong rival, Luis de Góngora, Quevedo was one of the most prominent Spanish poets of the age. His style is characterized by what was called conceptismo...
El Buscón
El Buscón
El Buscón is a picaresque novel by Francisco de Quevedo...
. Some writers used it in poetry for comical effect.
After the arrival of the Roma people and their frequent imprisonment, germanía incorporated much vocabulary from Romany and its descendant, the caló
Calo
Calo, Caló, or Calò may refer to:* Caló language, the language of the Iberian Romani**Iberian Kale :***Romani people in Spain, more frequently called gitanos***Romani people in Portugal, more frequently called ciganos...
jargon. As time passed, several words entered popular use and even standard Spanish, losing their value for secrecy. Germanía survives today in the cheli
Cheli
Cheli, according to the Royal Spanish Academy, is the jargon with elements of certain traditional working class districts of Madrid, Spain, such as Lavapiés and Atocha in the southern part of the old city , together with marginal and counter-cultural elements.Cheli, mainly a juvenile jargon,...
jargon.
War of the Germanías
The term germanía ("brotherhood" in Catalan—compare with GalicianGalician language
Galician is a language of the Western Ibero-Romance branch, spoken in Galicia, an autonomous community located in northwestern Spain, where it is co-official with Castilian Spanish, as well as in border zones of the neighbouring territories of Asturias and Castile and León.Modern Galician and...
irmandade and Castilian hermandad) originated from the name of certain communities in Valencia, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, which made themselves notorious by rebelling against the local nobility
Nobility
Nobility is a social class which possesses more acknowledged privileges or eminence than members of most other classes in a society, membership therein typically being hereditary. The privileges associated with nobility may constitute substantial advantages over or relative to non-nobles, or may be...
during the sixteenth century. Subsequently, the term referred to the argot used by these communities and, eventually, it referred to improper argot.
Use in Literature
Characters in the original Spanish version of Arturo Pérez-Reverte'sArturo Pérez-Reverte
Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez is a Spanish novelist and journalist. He worked as a war correspondent for twenty-one years . His first novel, El húsar, set in the Napoleonic Wars, was released in 1986. He is well known outside Spain for his "Alatriste" series of novels...
Captain Alatriste
Captain Alatriste
Captain Alatriste is a series of novels by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. It deals with the adventures of the title character, a Spanish soldier living in the 17th century.-Series:...
series make use of germanía. Pérez-Reverte gave a speech on the subject of germanía to the Real Academia Española de la Lengua after they invited him to join the academy for the work he had done on the series.
Other jargons based on Spanish
- BaralleteBaralleteBarallete is a largely vanished argot which used to be employed by the traditional knife-sharpeners and umbrella-repairers of the Galician province of Ourense, in Spain....
- Bron
- GaceríaGaceríaGacería is the name of a slang or argot employed by the trilleros and the briqueros in the village of Cantalejo, in the Spanish province of Segovia...
- LunfardoLunfardoLunfardo is a dialect originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in Buenos Aires and the surrounding Gran Buenos Aires, and from there spread to other cities nearby, such as Rosario and Montevideo, cities with similar socio-cultural situations...
(Argentina and Uruguay) - QuinquiQuinquiQuinqui jargon is associated with quinquilleros , a reduced and possibly vanishing semi-nomadic group who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called mercheros....
External links
- Spain 1516–1522: The Troubled Succession of Charles V - Part 9: The Germanía
- Germanía in the RAEReal Academia EspañolaThe Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
dictionary.