On the word ponentino

Authors

  • Alvaro Alonso Universidad Complutense de Madrid

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3989/rfe.2009.v89.i1.68

Keywords:

ponentino, Lepanto, italianism, 16th century

Abstract


This work studies a very specific use of the word ponentino: It is used as a synonym of ‘Spaniard’ or, in a slightly more general context, as a word to refer to ‘people from the Western Mediterranean’, where Western Mediterranean stands for the Mediterranean sea stretching to the west of Sicily. Therefore, such a use of the word splits the interior sea into two halves, which do neither correspond with the old division between the Western Empire and the Byzantine Empire nor the clash between the Christian world and the Ottoman Empire. We propose an Italian origin for this particular use of the word.

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Published

2009-06-30

How to Cite

Alonso, A. (2009). On the word ponentino. Revista De Filología Española, 89(1), 153–162. https://doi.org/10.3989/rfe.2009.v89.i1.68

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