Germanía () is the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

term for the

argot A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argot ...

used by

criminals In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in Can ...

or in

jails A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correcti ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

during 16th and 17th centuries. Its purpose is to keep outsiders out of the conversation. The ultimate origin of the word is the Latin word , through

Catalan Catalan may refer to: Catalonia From, or related to Catalonia: * Catalan language, a Romance language * Catalans, an ethnic group formed by the people from, or with origins in, Northern or southern Catalonia Places * 13178 Catalan, asteroid ...

(brother) and ("brotherhood, guild"). Some documentation for it occurs in

picaresque The picaresque novel ( Spanish: ''picaresca'', from ''pícaro'', for "rogue" or "rascal") is a genre of prose fiction. It depicts the adventures of a roguish, but "appealing hero", usually of low social class, who lives by his wits in a corr ...

works as early as the Spanish Golden Century, such as in Quevedo's ''

El Buscón ''El Buscón'' (full title ''Historia de la vida del Buscón, llamado Don Pablos, ejemplo de vagamundos y espejo de tacaños'' (literally: History of the life of the Swindler, called Don Pablos, model for hobos and mirror of misers); translated as ...

''. Some writers used it in poetry for comical effect. After the arrival of the

Romani people The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sig ...

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 Cheli is a Spanish-language juvenile sociolect or jargon diatopically restricted to the Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population ...

'' jargon.

War of the Germanías

The term ''germanía'' ("brotherhood" in Catalan—compare with Galician ''irmandade'' and Spanish ''hermandad'') originated from the name of a revolt against the local nobility in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

, Spain 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's

Captain Alatriste ''Captain Alatriste'' ( es, El capitán Alatriste, fully titled Las aventuras del capitán Alatriste) is a series of novels by Spanish author Arturo Pérez-Reverte. It deals with the adventures of the title character, a Spanish soldier and man ...

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.Barbara Hoffert, "Q&A Arturo Pérez-Reverte", '' Library Journal'', p. 77, 2005-4-15, translated to English by Carmen Ospina.

Other jargons based on Spanish

Bron Bron () is a commune in the Metropolis of Lyon, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, eastern France. Geography Bron lies east-southeast of central Lyon. It is the sixth-largest suburb of the city of Lyon, and is adjacent to its east side. Clima ...

Gacería Extension of the Gacería in the province of Segovia Gacería is the name of a slang or argot employed by the (or makers of the , or threshing-board, as well as threshing-sledge) and the (or makers of : metathesis of Spanish word sieve) in ...

Lunfardo Lunfardo (; from the Italian ''lombardo'' or inhabitant of Lombardy in the local dialect) is an argot originated and developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in the lower classes in Buenos Aires and from there spread to other urban ar ...

(Argentina and Uruguay) *

Quinqui Quinqui jargon is associated with '' quincalleros'' (tinkers), a semi-nomadic group who live mainly in the northern half of Spain. They prefer to be called ''mercheros''. They are reduced in number and possibly vanishing as a distinct group. T ...

References

External links

Spain 1516–1522: The Troubled Succession of Charles V - Part 9: The Germanía

Germanía
in the

RAE Rae may refer to: People *Rae (given name), including a list of people with the given name * Rae (surname), including a list of people with the surname Nicknames for *Rachel (given name) * Rachelle *Raquel *Raven (given name) *Reema * Reena (di ...

dictionary. Cant languages Spanish language {{spanish-lang-stub

War of the Germanías

Use in literature

Other jargons based on Spanish

See also

References

External links