The role of the horse in the history of mankind is reflected in historical chronicles and in the masterpieces of fiction. The names of famous horses, starting with the winged Pegasus - a symbol of poetic inspiration, entered the world culture.
The legendary Bucephalus for the one who loves history is inseparable from his great horseman - Alexander the Great, and everyone who reads remembers the name of the horse Don Quixote. Rocinante is a full-fledged character in the great novel of Cervantes.
New name - new destiny
Among the many meanings, faces, allusions, which are filled with the famous novel, the most important is the idea of the power of the human mind, capable of changing the world around us with the power of imagination, creating a new reality. Just like Alonso Kihano (or Kehado or Kesado), an ordinary person, turns into a glorious knight, ready for great feats, as soon as he acquires the title of Don Quixote, everything changes around, getting a new name.
A copper razor basin becomes a golden helmet. The peasant woman Aldonsa Lorenzo becomes Dulcinea of Toboss - the most beautiful of women in whose name knightly deeds are performed. A lame, skinny nag turns into a powerful steed, carrying his rider to glorious exploits. She gets her proud name Rocinante (the name of the horse Don Quixote) even before the ingenious hidalgo chose his name.
Four days in thought
Don Quixote was convinced: the change that occurred in the position of the owner, requires a change of name and his horse. It should correspond to a new dignity and a new, glorious field of his: everyone should remember what was the name of the horse Don Quixote - the valiant knight from La Mancha. Therefore, he spends several days straining his imagination, remembering and thinking, sorting through different options, redoing ready-made words and composing one of several parts. In the end, he settled on the sonorous and noble name of Rocinante.
We don’t know what Don Quixote’s horse name was, until it became a knightly horse, but for her a new name completely changed the future. According to all the canons of chivalric novels, it is the steed that determines the fate of his rider, choosing the way. The name of the horse Don Quixote became famous, meaning a beautiful and strong animal, faithful to its heroic master, although it is often used with an ironic or parody tone.
The meaning of the name Rocinante
No wonder the cunning hidalgo spent a lot of time looking for the right name for his horse - it's hard to forget what Don Quixote's horse was called. His name is sonorous and ambiguous, explaining, first of all, as the owner wanted, the significance of changing his status: a horse, formerly an ordinary nag, becomes "the best of nags."
Rocinante is a pun of two words. The first - Rocín - exists in several Romance languages, meaning a working, outbred horse or, figuratively, a rude, illiterate person. The second part - ante - can be a single word meaning “before”, “before”, “earlier”, or a suffix that defines circumstances, that is, in this case, doing something like Rosin. In conjunction, many meanings are obtained: “the likeness of a horse”, “what used to be a horse”, or “what the former nag has become”, “a nag that is ahead of everyone” and the like.
Don Quixote lookalike
Anyone who first reads Cervantes' novel is struck by the resemblance of a horse and its rider. This is confirmed by many of the literary scholars who have devoted entire volumes to the study of this book. Undoubtedly there is an external resemblance: both the knight and his horse are characterized by incorporeality, denying vulgar materiality and belonging to the higher, spiritual world. The trials sent by fate are similar: Rocinante is subjected to ridicule no less than his valiant master, and the beatings inflicted on him are just as painful and palpable.
There is another quality common to the two characters, which has an elevated meaning. Both Don Quixote and Rocinante in their new life show abilities not available in the past. A horse, from which, due to thinness, bones stick out in all directions, becoming a knightly horse in the imaginary world, becomes capable of actions that may exceed its capabilities. Despite a clumsy fall at the beginning of the novel, this is a loyal and enduring horse of Don Quixote, whose name was Rocinante - "ahead of everyone else, the first nag in the world."
Common Name
The significance of the novel about the adventures of a knight from Lamanchi is confirmed by its worldwide fame and the total number of circulations around the world. There is no need to explain what “quixoticism”, “battle with windmills” or “knight of the Sad Image” are. The images of Don Quixote, Sancho Panza, Dulsinei are embodied in many films and theatrical productions in drama and musical theaters.
All over the world there is no need to recall the name of the horse of Don Quixote. The ironic nickname Rocinante invariably gets any haggard or extremely thin horse. But this word, according to Don Quixote, is really beautiful and sonorous, appreciated by naming professionals and without ironic connotations, just like a famous horse nickname. Many centers of hippotherapy or equestrian schools bear the name of the faithful companion of Don Quixote.