What was the name of Don Quixote's horse? Rosinante - common noun

The role of a horse in the history of mankind has been reflected in historical chronicles and masterpieces of fiction. The names of the famous horses, beginning with the winged Pegasus - a symbol of poetic inspiration, entered the world culture. The legendary Bucephalus for someone who loves history is inseparable from his great rider Alexander the Great, and every reading person remembers the name of Don Quixote's horse. Rosinant - a full-fledged character in the great novel of Cervantes.

A new name is a new destiny

Among the many meanings, facets, allusions with which the famous novel is filled, the most important is the idea of the power of the human mind, capable of changing the world by the power of imagination, creating a new reality. Just like Alonso Kihano (or Kehado, or Qesado), a mediocre person, turns into a glorious knight, ready for great exploits, when he got the title of Don Quixote, everything changes around, getting a new name.

The copper shaving basin becomes a golden helmet. Peasant Aldonsa Lorenzo becomes Dulcinea of Tobos - the most beautiful of women, for whose sake knightly deeds are committed. Lame, thin nag turns into a powerful horse, carrying his rider to glorious feats. His proud name Rosinante (the name of the horse Don Quixote), she receives even before the ingenious hidalgo chose the name itself.

Four days in meditation

Don Quixote was convinced that a change in the position of the master required a change in the name and his horse. It must correspond to a new rank and a new, glorious career: everyone should remember the name of Don Quixote's horse, a valiant knight from La Mancha. Therefore, he spends several days, straining his imagination, remembering and meditating, sorting out various options, reworking ready-made words and making up one of several parts. In the end he settled on the sonorous and noble name Rosinant.

We do not know what the name of Don Quixote's horse was, until she became a knight's horse, but for her the new name completely changed the future. According to all the canons of knightly novels, it is the horse that determines the fate of his rider, choosing the way. The name of Don Quixote's horse became famous, meaning a beautiful and strong animal, true to its heroic master, however, is more often used with an ironic or parody tinge.

The meaning of the name Rosinante

No wonder the ingenious hidalgo spent a lot of time searching for the right name for his mount - it's hard to forget the name of Don Quixote's horse. Its name is sonorous and polysemantic, explaining, first of all, as the master wanted, the significance of changing its status: a horse that used to be a traditional nag becomes "the best of nags".

Rocinante is a pun of a combination of two words. The first - Rocín - exists in several Romance languages, meaning a working, mongrel horse or, figuratively, a rude, illiterate person. The second part - ante - can be a separate word meaning "before", "before", "before", and the suffix that determines the circumstances, that is, in this case doing something like Rosin. In the mix, many meanings are obtained: "the likeness of a horse," "what used to be a horse," or "what a former nag has become", "the nag that's ahead of all," and the like.

Double of Don Quixote

Anyone who first read the novel by Cervantes, striking the similarity of the horse and its rider. This is confirmed by many of the literary critics who have devoted entire volumes to the study of this book. There is undoubtedly an outward similarity: both the knight and his steed are bodiless, denying vulgar materiality and belonging to the higher, spiritual world. The trials sent by fate are similar: Rosinante is subjected to ridicule no less than his valorous master, and the beatings inflicted on him are just as painful and palpable.

There is one more quality that is common for two characters, which has a sublime meaning. Both Don Quixote and Rosinante in their new life display abilities that are inaccessible in the past. The horse, from which, due to thinness, bones protruded in all directions, becoming a knight in an imaginary world, becomes capable of actions, perhaps exceeding its capabilities. Despite the awkward fall at the beginning of the novel, this is the faithful and enduring horse of Don Quixote, whose name was Rosinant - "ahead of everyone else, the first nag in the world."

Name is a household name

The significance of the novel about the adventures of the knight from La Mancha is confirmed by its worldwide fame and the total number of circulations around the world. There is no need to explain what "quixotism", "battle with windmills" or "knight of the Sad image" is. The images of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, Dulcinea are embodied in a variety of films and theatrical productions in dramatic and musical theaters.

In the whole world, there is no need to recall the name of Don Quixote's horse. The ironic nickname Rosinante invariably receives any haggard or extremely thin horse. But this word, according to Don Quixote, really, beautiful and sonorous, is appreciated by professionals naming and without ironic overtones, just like the famous horse nickname. Many centers of hippotherapy or equestrian schools bear the name of the true companion of Don Quixote.