With Nancy J. Farrier
Have you ever wondered where our western terminology comes from? I was surprised to learn that many of our familiar words in the west originate from Spanish and the early Spanish and Mexican people. I wanted to share a few of those words with you.
Rancho is the origin of our word for ranch. The Spanish rancho was a large holding of land where cattle and horses were raised. The Ranchero or rancher was the owner. The ranchos in California were land grants generally made up of 14 square miles.
Vaquero, one who takes care of the cattle, became Cowboy in English. The literal translation of vaquero is cow and man. The vaquero, like the cowboy, was a rough, hard-working man who endured hardship to do his job. They hired on for trail drives or to work the ranch.
Corral is spelled the same in both Spanish and English but the pronunciation is different. Both refer to a pen or enclosure for animals.
Cañón is where we get the English word, Canyon. Cañón is a tube or pipe. If you
visit some of the canyons in the west, you can understand the how that word came to mean the landform. There are many beautiful canyons in the west.
Vigilante is another word spelled the same in Spanish and English but the pronunciation is different. In Spanish, a vigilante is a watchman or guard. In English, the word has come to mean anything from someone who protects or guards to someone who seeks out vengeance.
Mostrenco is thought to be the origin of the word Mustang. The original use of the word referred to roaming cattle that were unclaimed, but came to mean
horses that roamed free.
Bronco, the same in Spanish and English, means rough or coarse in Spanish. When we think of the bucking bronco, we understand how the term relates to horses before they are broken to saddle. A horse that’s never been ridden before certainly is rough when a cowboy tries to ride them.
Lazo means bow, knot or tie in Spanish. Lazo changed to lasso in English. The lasso is a versatile tool used by the cowboy in a variety of ways. To rope a cow
or horse. To tied up an animal. To lead an animal. The lazo or lasso was also used to entertain.
Rodear in Spanish means to go around. Rodear became rodeo in English. At fiestas, the rodeo was a way for the vaqueros to show off their skills and challenge one another. The modern day rodeo is still a way for the cowboy to demonstrate the skills he is adept at performing. The arena is the perfect place to show off the meaning of “to go around.”
Estampida became Stampede in English. In the old west, on trail rides, a stampede was something to inspire fear. Crazed animals running flat out would trample anything in their path.
There are many more terms we borrowed from the Spanish language, but these are a few that are common in western historical fiction. Which ones were new to you? Do you have any others to add to the list? I am doing a giveaway of my newest release, The Ranchero’s Love. Leave a comment and include your email address to be entered in the giveaway.
Rosalinda knows she will never escape her past, both the choices forced on her
and the mistakes she’s made. She longs to find a place to live in peace—where she can learn to mother her children and where Lucio Armenta won’t be a constant reminder of the love she can never have. Lucio wants to marry. However, Rosalinda, the only woman he’s ever been attracted to, doesn’t meet the ideals he’s set for his future wife. When he discovers she, and her adorable brood, are accompanying him to his sister and brother-in-law’s, he objects. An objection that is overruled. When secrets from Lucio’s past are exposed, and Rosalinda faces choices no woman should have to make, will their growing love, and their faith, survive?
Nancy J Farrier is an award winning author who lives in Southern Arizona in the Sonoran Desert. She loves the Southwest with its interesting historical past.
Nancy and her husband have five children and two grandsons. When Nancy isn’t writing, she loves to read, do needlecraft, play with her cats, and spend time with her family. Nancy is represented by Tamela Hancock Murray of The Steve Laube Literary Agency. You can read more about Nancy and her books on her website: nancyjfarrier.com.
By Miralee Ferrell
Cowboys--a subject of fascination for little boys and girls through the years--with many a young girl smitten and young boy wanting to be one when they grew up. My sister wanted to be a cowboy when she was little--not a cowgirl, mind you.
Have you ever wondered where and when the cowboy came into being? The Old West would be most people's guess, but his origin goes back a little beyond that, and even has roots in different countries.
From www.history.com/topics/cowboys I discovered this interesting bit of information. "Predecessors of the cowboy date back to colonial times. In western Massachusetts, in the uplands of the Carolinas, in Florida, and across the northern, red clay hills of Georgia and Alabama, cattle-raising societies existed long before the Great Plains had been cleared of buffalo. It was in Florida that much of the protocol involving branding evolved. Yet the cattle industry of the Southeast never attracted national attention. The herders never became heroes. They remained little known and were recognized for what they were—illiterate, unmounted trespassers on the public domain, drifting from grazing ground to grazing ground, trailing their beasts to markets at Ohio River towns or to Savannah or Jacksonville."
Cowboys came in all shapes and sizes. We often envision them as rugged, tall, handsome, and strong. But history shows they could as easily have been short, stout, scrawn, or homely, but undoubtedly most were brave and had incredible internal strength to maintain the rugged life they chose to live. Long days, weeks, and sometimes months, were spent on the trail herding cattle to market, or alone on a vast range guarding, branding, doctoring, and keeping track of their boss's (or their own) cattle or horses. It was often a solitary life, sleeping on the ground or in a bunkhouse with a number of other men, with few, if any luxuries to call their own.
Vaqueros were the Spanish and Mexican version of our Old West cowboy. At http://www.americancowboy.com/article/history I discovered the following:
1519–1700s After the Spanish arrived in Mexico in 1519, ranches were established and stocked with cattle and horses imported from Spain. Landowners mounted native Indians on well-trained horses and taught them to handle cattle. By the early 1700s, cattle ranching had spread north into what is now Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico and south to Argentina. The native cowboys were called vaqueros(from the Spanish word for cow) and developed roping skills, using braided rawhide reatas (the root word for lariat). Starting in 1769, a chain of 21 Franciscan missions eventually stretched from San Diego to San Francisco, marking the beginning of California’s livestock industry.
The golden age of the cowboy, 1866-1886, had it's beginnings post-Civil War, in Texas. Cattle were allowed to roam free, grew wild, and had few natural enemies when traveling in a herd. Their numbers grew to be over 5 million in the Texas territory, and the lure was great for a cowboy to attain their own small herd. The need for beef back east drove the market, and the cattle industry began to boom. At times, range wars arose and were settled by gun-play, and at other times, sheep farmers tried to invade the cattle land and created tension and bloodshed.
Cowboys had to fight outlaws bent on stealing their cattle, Indians angry at the white man usurping their land, homesteaders wanting to farm or put up fences, as well as predators, disease, and long hours with low pay. But most of the men who chose this life wouldn't have it any other way. They loved the freedom it provided, as well as the camaraderie they often found working on a ranch.
A little known fact is, that after the Civil War, about one-quarter of the cowboys
were black. I found the following at this website: The life of the black cowboy was tougher than most. It was the black cowboy who broke the horses and herded the cattle across the rivers. Though they took on the toughest jobs, it was better to be a black cowboy on the ranch than a slave on the plantation picking cotton.
Little to no attention was given to the black cowboys who made their mark in western history by Hollywood. Riders like William “Bill” Pickett, Stagecoach Mary, Nat Love and Bass Reeves were among the most famous. Documentary filmmakers John Ferguson and Gregg MacDonald have created “The Forgotten Cowboys,” in which they follow the contemporary black cowboys of today, like Jason Griffin, who is a four-time world champion bareback bucking horse rider, while also reflecting on the black riders in the past.
I have two new books out, both released March 1, and both are full of historical cowboy stories, Heart of a Cowboy, a collection of novellas by four award-winning authors, and The Cowboy's Bride, by nine different authors, which recently hit the ECPA best-seller list. I think you'd enjoy both of these, and I'd love if you'd pick up a copy.
Miralee Ferrell is an award-winning, best-selling author. She has 18 books released with two more releasing during 2016. She's also the publisher at her company, Mountain Brook Ink, which published Heart of a Cowboy, and can be found at her personal website or her business website.
