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| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| abjuration | During the Holy Inquisition, one might be asked to swear an "abjuration" or oath denying something (typically heresy). "Abjuration de levi" meant slight heresey. "Abjuration vehementi" meant strong suspicion of heresy. |
| abolengos | Spaniards at all four corners (both sets of grandparents: proof of limpieza de sangre - racial or religous blood lines) |
| acequias | A community constructed and operated gravity water channel. Some acequias are conveyed through pipes or aqueducts. These irrigation channels were constructed in Arabic style by Moriscos. 3 |
| adīb | A cultured man. |
| Alá | Allah. |
| alacena, alahania | A hollow made in the wall with doors and shelves to hide contents such as illegal or censored books. |
| Albarán | A receipt. |
| alcabala | A sales tax. |
| Alcaçería | A fortified bazaar in a judería. |
| alcalde | Magistrate |
| alcalde mayor | chief magistrate or mayor |
| alcuzcuz | couscous |
|
al faquis,
alfaquines, alfaquinas |
Religious teachers of Islam |
| Algarravia | Arabic language |
| alguacil | constable |
| 'Ālimes | A Morisco scholar, sabiyos, (ulama). |
| aljama | Muslim or Jewish communities (ghettos) within a Christian township or area |
| Aljamiado | Literature produced by Moriscos mixing Spanish and Arabic, in Arabic script |
| Almadén | An infamous mine that employed forzados (convicts) as well as North African slave labor. The most important ore was mercury (cinnabar, used in the amalgamation process to extract or purify silver), but other ores were also mined, such as lead, copper, and zinc. |
| almalafas | face veil |
| Al-Andalus | Al-[V]andalus (land of the Visigoth Vandals) |
| Alarbes | Muslim Berbers |
| Alárabe | Arab |
| Algarravia | Arabic |
| Archíes | Chief sergants of the Algerian Janissaries. |
| Almojarífes | Moorish tax farmer. |
| Almosna | Board of charities in each synagogue in each Jewish aljama. |
| almudi | Royally owned building used to measure grain, effectively a tax imposed upon Muslims and Jews. |
| alpargatas | rope-soled sandals |
| alteraciones | disturbances |
| Amancebado | Living together without formal marriage |
| Ańoranza | Spanish version of "saudade". A nostalgic melancholy due to the absence of something or someone, such as the vanished Portuguese empire. |
| antialcorán | anti-Koran |
| antiguos, Moriscos antiguos | Old Moriscos (considered themselves Catholics) |
| aslamis | A Christian convert to Islam. |
|
baños, [bagno, bagnio,
bagarino, banō], fondouk, funduq caravansérii |
prisons in Algeria (prisoners held in what were formerly bath houses)
for Spanish Catholic slaves, [slave quarters]. A fondouk
was a warehouse or trading "factory" holding goods to be sold or bought, including slaves,
and could also be a hotel Fondouks existed in the
Genoese Black Sea empire at such sites as Keffe, as well as along the West African
Atlantic coast, such as "The Mine" (El Mina). Due
to the rise of the Ottoman Empire (1454AD), the Genoese Black Sea empire collapsed.
These Genoese then became influential in the Spanish Empire that was just being born
in Iberia. Recall, that between 1580 and 1640, Spain and Portugal were united. The
fondouks of the Genoese Black Sea empire were then founded by the formerly Portuguese
along the Western, Atlantic African littoral, under the power of the Casa de la
Contratación de las Indias ("House of Trade of the Indies") established by the
Crown of Castile, in 1503 at the port of Seville.
Slave prisons such as the "Grand Prison", known colloquially as the "bagñio" (bath house) existed at Valletta, Malta in the 16th century, as well as in Algiers (Argel). A prison for French galley slaves existed "Bagño of Toulon", including Devil's Island in Cayenne (French Guiane), prisoners referred to as "Bagnards". |
| Béarn | Pyrenean Kingdom. Click for information. |
| bonete | refers to cardinal's caps (red bonete), example: those that support the Holy Inquisition are "red bonetes". |
| Berberisco | A person living in Berbería (North African Barbary coast) |
| bizcocho | biscuits fed to starving Moriscos |
| bocado, tukal | Something eaten to alleviate illness |
| Buñolero | Maker of Buñuelos or buns (work typicalla done by Moriscos: thus those suspected of being "hidden" Moriscos) |
| Caballero | Knight. |
| Cafizada | A unit of land measurement. |
| Calificador | One who assesses or the censor examining evidence of heresy during torture |
| Calzas | Loose trousers worn by Moriscas. |
| campo franco | soldiers free to loot and enslave |
| Candado | A county. |
| Cañamo | Hemp. |
| Carcayona | The Morisco legend or folk tale of "Donicella Carcayona" Click for information. |
| carceles secretas | The secret prison cells of the Holy Inquisition. |
| Carnicería | Muslim butcher shop. |
| Carta de poder | Power of attorney |
| Carga, cargo | An amount of cod fish (used in business). |
| Casada | Wife (Castellano). |
| Carte executoria | Title of nobility |
| Carte de libertad | Freedom papers |
| Cartillas | Pamphlets |
| Cédula | Crown or Royal decree |
| censalistas | Those that used censos |
| censos | loans taken out by Catholic nobles using Morisco rents as collateral |
| chador | A large piece of cloth that is wrapped around the head and upper body leaving only the face exposed. |
| chrism | A mixture of oil and balsam, used during baptism. Moriscos washed away the chrism. |
| Cirujano | Surgeon. |
| clamosa | A denunciation to the Holy Inquisition. |
| Comando | A legal agreement (contract) or a loan made for a commission. |
| Comisario | Local clergyman as representative of the Inquisition |
| Consulta | Recommendations made to the king. |
| Conversos | Converts (usually forced) from Judaism to Catholicism (New Christians, morranos) |
| convivencia | The period under Alfonso X (El Sabio - The Wise) the time before Granda fell, when Christians, Moslems and Jews lived at peace with each other. |
| Cornado | An amount of cod. |
| corona | A pointed hat, with fire and devil designs, required to be worn by Inquisition vistims. |
| Corregidor | Governor |
| costellano | The "best", "purest", "proper" or "original" form of spoken Spanish. Obviously, the people of different provinces of Spain, or South and Central America might have differing opinions, as might the Moriscos. |
| Crespo | Curly hair (racial identification) |
| Criado | Dependent |
| Cristianesca, Turquesco | Morisco wasn't the only term used, See "The Bagnios of Argel" by Cervantes. "Argel" was the old name for Algiers. |
| cuadrillas | columns (of soldiers) |
| dabají | Leader of a Turkish Janissary squadron |
| dar al-harb | zone of hostility (where Christians live) |
| dar al-Islam | zone of Islam (safety) |
| definitivos | definitions of what constitutes a morisco |
| Dhimma | Protected status of religious minorities gained by paying a tax (under Muslim or Catholic rule) |
| Doctrina | Mission parish |
| Doctrineros, catechizers | Those, mostly uneducated, low level people that teach the principles of Catholic dogmas using question/answer choral learning (memorization). |
| doncella | Maiden or young maid. |
| Efectiva | Militia in Valencia |
| Elches | renegades |
| empenyada | A pawned item. |
| Encomienda | Grant of indigenous tributaries (conquered people entities (may not be viewed as people, or animated beings that "appear" human. Encomiendas may be inherited by the issue of encomienda holders for one or several generations, or in perpetuity) |
| enfermedad Galicis | Syphillis (Spanish illness) |
| ensalmo; ensalmadores | Spell; charm seller |
| Esclavas blancas | White slaves (Morisca or Genoese Roxolanan [Ukrainian/Crimean/Keffan/Black sea] slaves) Note: A slave may be recognized by having to perpetually wear fetters. |
| Escudero | A squire or low level nobleman.. |
| estancia | plantation (finca) |
| Fadas | Morisco ceremony to name a child |
| Fakihs/alfaquíes | Muslim religious or scholarly elites, or priests |
| farda | tax payment |
| faras, fāris | horse, knight |
| fautor |
A person that favors or is biased towards supporting persons that holding specific
views or is biased towards supporting people with a specific view point (such as
heresey or heretics or an ideology).
One way of viewing the Spanish Inquisition is that there was a war going on between three ideologies: proponents of Catholicism and proponents of Islam (especially North African Algerian and the Ottomans), as well as Protestant groups such as the Béarn Pyrenean Huguenots. Often Islamic groups joined together with the Huguenots, and Dutch Lutherans in opposition to Spanish Catholicism. Thus the hysterical fears of the Spanish Inquisition was a fear of Catholicism being replaced by the Lutheranism of the Huguenots as well as English Protestantism, or even Islam. Such fears were further enflamed by raids upon the Mediterranian coast of Spain by North African Barbary pirates or even Mediterranian Ottoman fleets. |
| fiador | Money guarantor (for innkeepers, fishmongres, etc.) |
| fazedor | Steward |
| fisigos, medicos | A person knowledgeable in medicine |
| Fondouk, Funduq | A fondouk was a trading warehouse or "factory" holding goods to be sold or bought, including slaves, and could also be a hotelFondouks existed in the Genoese Black Sea empire at such sites as Keffe, as well as along the West African Atlantic coast, such as "The Mine" (El Mina) and at "Salé". See "baños". |
| fornage | A tax that Jews paid to use royal ovens. |
| fraile | friar |
| franqueza | A tax that Muslims and Jews paid to avoid the almudi |
| fuego y sangre | fire and blood (literally): soldiers not only free to loot and enslave (campo franco), but to murder, rape, torture, etc. |
| fueros, furs | Fueros were a separate set of laws and courts that applied to specific bodies of people. In Spain, there was a fuero that applied to noblemen dealing with land (property) and vassals of these noblemen. In the Spanish New World, there was a fuero Indiano, fuero Militar (similar to Courts Martial in the U.S.), fuero Eclesiástica (applies to members of the church), fuero Mesta (applies to cattle drivers). Thus if a soldier robbed a priest while the priest was raping an Indiana, three fueros applied: fuero Militar, fuero Eclesiástica, and the fuero Indiana. |
| gacis | Freed slaves or unbaptized Moors. |
| gandule | A vagrant. |
| gilecuelco | Deep blue jacket with no collar or a very low collar, with sleeves that did not extend below the elbows, used by captives [slaves] on the North African coast. |
| Godos | Goths or Visigoths |
| grau | Port (of expulsion): Valencia, Denia, Alicante, Viñaroz, Mancofa, Saint-Jean-de-Luz (France) |
| Green cross | Used in Inquisition processions and at sites of auto de fés |
| Guadoc | Ritual, Muslim full body ablutions |
| Gypsies | "In order for Spain to stay clean, it remains to do do the same [as the Moriscos] with the Gypsies." (Salazar de Mendoza) Gypsies "described as libertines, brigands, thieves, kidnappers and eaters of children." "Islam and the West: The Moriscos: A Cultural and Social History", by Anwar Chejne, p. 179, note 71 |
| Hábil | Eligible to hold office or profession based upon abilities or racial/casta lineage |
| Habilitación | Procedure that promotes an inhábil to hábil |
| Hechicería | Witchcraft (Hecat or witch) |
| Henna | Henna was used my Moslems to stain hair, nails, skin and clothing. It was also used by Catholics. |
| Hidalguía | Noble status (In contemporary U.S., a worker is the lowest category or class of being: everyone is a "manager". Thus there are no hotel "doormen": There is a president doorman, a vice-president doorman, manager doorman, assistant doorman, doorman in training, etc. but god-forbid, no doorman! Who would want to go to a hotel with "doormen"? Thus in Spain, everyone who was anyone was a Hidalgo. Thus no one actually wanted to be associated with work! Everyone was a Hidalgo. Perhaps it is easy to understand why Spain fell behind the world: no one worked!) In fact, a parasitic class often evolves into useless people. Thus Ivan Goncherov's novel "Oblomov". "Oblomovshchina" is the name of Russian version of "Hidalguías". Click to see Hidalguías. |
| hijab | female dress code consistent with Islamic restrictions |
| Hortelano | A (Morisco) orchard worker. |
| huerta | peri-urban agricultural landscape |
| ifranji | French (French Moriscos) |
| Información | Document of informacion or testimony (often about blood lineage) |
| Islamismo | Islamazation or lapses of Cathlolicism of New Christians into Islam |
| Judeoconversos | Jewish New Christians (as opposed to Islamic New Christians or Luterano New Christians) |
| Judería | Jewish ghetto for Jews, Conversos or morranos. Surrounded by a wall, with only one portal composed of a door with a gate that must be closed at curfew. |
| Justiçia | A magistrate. |
| Leila | Granadan Morisco song. Drums, flutes, trumpets, lutes, mandolins, and zithers are commonly used. |
| Lela Marien | Term used by Moors and Mariscoos meaning "Nuestra Señora la Vírgen María". |
|
Lemosin, Occitan,
Langue d'oc |
Language spoken in Langue d'oc by Huguenots. Called Dugou (Great Owl), or Duganel (little owl), and Duganel (Huguenots), "owl" meaning howlers. Also called Hussgenossen after John Huss, a believer in goodness to be shared by ALL people (peasants), not only nobles. |
| leterado: licentiate | lettered or educated in law:degree in law above bachelor/master, but less than PhD |
| linajudo | An expert in searching for Converso or Morisco or Mudéjar or even Luterano blood lines (pre-genetics) |
| literatura de cordel | String literature (bound together by strings). |
| maestra de bodas | The director at a Morisco wedding. The bride is bathed, dressed, henna is applied to face, hands, and feet, then is led in a procession to a new residence. |
| maghreb | Gharb, Al-maghreb, means "west", or the western African land to the west African littoral. |
| majuelos | Large or wealthy owners of land used for viticulture.. |
| malouf |
malouf is the music of Tunisia.
Musically, what happens is fascinating: the crown begins to take a harsher and
harsher look at the Muslims and at Moorish culture. They begin to outlaw different
aspects of Moorish and Morisco culture, such as the use of the Arabic language,
Arab or Moorish style clothing, and they promote laws against the performance of
Moorish music. The church [thought] that this music was somehow Islamic in nature
and that it posed a threat to those Moriscos who were true converts to Christianity
in the 1520s, from 1526 to 1532. An attempt is made to prohibit the use of Moorish
musical instruments and prohibit the gatherings that are called samras or zambras
and leilas, which are two Arabic words for "an evening gathering." The view is that
Moriscos secretly get together and sing praise songs to the Prophet Mohammed. However,
the view of the Crown is that Morisco music has already percolated upwards into the
court culture and should not be prohibited (there were court ballroom dances that
were considered to be of Morisco origin). Francisco Nunez Moulay points out that
it is foolish to outlaw Morisco music: Morisco musical instruments are not uniquely
Islamic, not the same as those used in Morocco (a bowed instrument played on the
shoulder, and a square tambourine that might have been only used in southern Spain
that might not have been used in North Africa, the guitarra Morisca or the kwitra
of Algeria, tuned very differently).
Dwight Reynolds, Associate Professor in the Department of Religious Studies, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies, Chair of Islamic and Near Eastern Studies, University of California |
| malshin | A Jewish slanderer, or a Jew that acted as an informer such as to the Inquisition. |
| Marién | Mary (virgen). |
| Marlota | A long robe worn by Moriscos. |
| merindad | District. |
| mezquin | A Morisco was usually described as stingy, dirty, miserable, lazy, and dishonest. One should recall that the Moriscos were the hardest workers, essential for the economy. |
| Mezquita | A mosque (in Castellano). |
| monfíes | Moriscos who lived during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, driven to the mountains around Granada as a result of the disorder and repression associated with the conquest of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs in 1492. Their numbers grew as Castilian Inquisition authorities pressured the Muslims of Granada to convert to Christianity. The monfíes, were mostly rural and practiced Islam openly, while Moriscos were forced to convert to Catholicism, which many did. Self-exiles. |
| Moriscas (dance) | "Moriscas" or the "saltarello" were Morisco dances. These dances became very popular with Europeans. For example, the "moriscas" evolved into "Moriss dances" in England. Click for information. |
| Moro, mora | A Morisco or a Moor (male, female). |
| Morabitos; marabout | Circa 1345AD, Ibn Battuta visited what later in Spain would be called the Philippine Islands (Nueva España). He found a Muslim presence already established. Morabitos were proseltytizing by distributing cartillas explaining Islamic principles, utilizing ghazis (armed guards), practicing circumcision, etc. and the Catholics and Muslims became involved in warfare. Morabitos means a teacher of Moslem ideas and culture. A hermit. |
| Morería | A Islamic ghetto for Mudéjars or Moriscos, Surrounded by a wall, with only one portal composed of a door with a gate that must be closed at curfew. Also called "Mota". An Islamic Barrio. |
| moriscos antigos | old moriscos |
| morisquillos | little moriscos (morisco chidren: enslaved or murdered) |
| Mozarabs, musta’rab; mozárabes [Spanish]; moçárabes [Portuguese]; mossàrabs [Catalan] | Iberian Catholics who lived under Moorish rule in Al-Andalus in dhimmi (ghettos for Christians and Jews) |
| Mudéjar | Muslims living under Catholic rule in Iberia, mostly predating the reconquest fall of Grenada. Mudéjar is a Castilian word borrowed from the Arabic word Mudajjan, meaning "tamed". A corruption of Mudegelin, based upon "degel" the equivalent of Antichrist, thus an opprobrious term. |
| Naguatatos | Nahuatl-speaking Nueva España Morisco interpreters |
| Negativo | An individual who continued to deny his guilt in the face of what was felt to be overwhelming evidence against him, was considered an unrepentant heretic thus to be condemned to be executed. |
| New Castilians | This term was used to refer to Gypsies to distinguish them from Conversos (Jews), Moriscos (Moslems), Lutherans, Illuminists, Old Christians, etc. |
| niqab | veil |
| nizarani | The term "nizarini" was used by Moiscos to refer to Christians or Nazarenes. |
| Nuevamente convertido | New convert |
| nuevoscristianos de moros | New Christians (Morish, as opposed to Jewish) |
| nunçio | Legal functionary that summoned people to appear before Jewish tribunals in a Jewish aljama. |
| obligation | A legal agreement (contract) or a loan, essentially a license to sell. |
| ostalero | A (Jewish) innkeeper. |
| parecer | Judicial opinion |
| pasar allende | To switch sides (be a traitor) |
| pecado nefando | A Christian term denoting sodomy. |
| pecha | An annual tax (collected by royal collectors called recibidores). |
| Plega | Council. |
| porteros | Officers of the bailiff (seized property of tax delinquents). |
| pragmática | royal decree |
| privaido, válido | A favored advisor of the king. Example: Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma, royal counsellor for Phillip III. Lerma was considered corrupt in the extreme. |
| privilegio | A charter , rights. |
| procuradores | Jewish agents appointed by other Jews to aid in the collection of Christian debts. |
| pronósticos | religious prophecies |
|
punishments/tortures
(Turkish, Polish, French) |
Common punishments included cutting off ears, to Click to see Impalement. |
| qanat | A qanat is a gently sloping underground channel to transport water from a water well to the surface for irrigation and drinking, acting as an underground aqueduct. 3 |
| Quemadro | Place where an individual is burned at the stake (either alive or dead), or flogged, tortured, sentenced to row at gallies (King's oars), sentenced to labor in mines, properties confiscated, facial branding, etc. |
| Reconciliado | Someone sentenced by the Inquisition to be reconciled among Catholics after appearance in an auto-da-fé and "relaxed" (adjudged guilty), thus "turned over" to secular authorities to actually kill people (thus the Catholic church didn't do the actual killing, that was done by the secular authorities. |
| reta&jacute;ar | Purification by circumcision. |
| Ribat | A military garrison or fortress (example, Salé Republic, near Rabat, the capitol of Morocco). |
| Ricosomes | Rich men, higher old nobility. |
| Roman Rota | Apostolic Tribunal of the Roman Rota (Tribunal Apostolicum Rotae Romanae), anciently the Apostolic Court of Audience. The highest appellate tribunal of the Catholic Church. |
| Salat | Islamic ritual prayer |
| Salteadores (as in assalt) | Highwaymen |
| Sea Beggars | Dutch privateers |
| Shahada | Profession of faith in Islam |
| Simpleza | Ignorance |
| Slave markets | Seville, Lisbon, etc. |
| soldan | Sultan |
| suspicion | A person might be held to be under suspicion of being a Morisco or even a Jew, if denounced. A denunciation (clamosa) could be a vandetta, a way to claim property, a simple mistake, or a way to enrich an Inquisition judge. Made no difference. Strong suspicion of being a Morisco included celebration of Ramadan, Zala (prayers), cleanliness (guadoc, taor), refusal to eat pork or drink wine, refusal to eat the meat of dead animals, burial of a corpse in clean linen, putting cakes on a bride's mattress upon marriage. |
| Tagarinos | Morisco in Aragon (as opposed to Valencia, for example) |
| taifa | Moslem al-Andalus was fragmented into weak, petty principalities known as the taifa states with weak taifa rulers, thus leading to the reconquest. |
| taor | A kind of ablution or bath before reciting the Zala. |
| Taqiyya | Imposed public expression of Islamic religion (the Inquisition used spies that tried to entrap Moriscos, thus imposed methods to hide anything that might incriminate. Thus Moriscos were subject to Catholic extortion). |
| tercio | Spanish infantryman. A tercio also referred to a unit of 3,000 soldiers of ten or twelve compañios of pikemen, swordsmen, and arquebusiers (musketeers). A tercio might be in "Spanish square", checkerboard formation. Sometimes tercios also formed Roman phlanx-like subdivisions. Click to see Tercios. |
| Toca | Moorish head covering |
| traginero | A cart-driver. |
| Traza | Nueva España town plan: grid around central plaza, with governmental buildings and common at the center, vecinos (Gauchipine or those born on the Iberian penninsula) and other Spaniards required to maintain houses near the town center. Such land was greatly overpriced, thus vecinos could barely have sufficient funds for their houses. Thus vecinos were kept under governmental control. |
| uluj | A Christian slave in an Islamic environment. |
| vega | Fertile plain or valley, lowland. |
| vergüenza publica | Punishment of parading through the streets on an ass with an inscription setting forth her name and the offence. |
| vidmage | A tax upon those that cultivated upon royal vinyards. |
| vinyos | Small viticulture land owners. |
| Zala, azala | The Salat or prayer carried out by Muslims five times daily |
| Zambras (Zamr) | Grenadan Morisco, Sephardic and Gypsy dances and music are closely related to Flamenco. Drums, flutes, trumpets, lutes, mandolins, and zithers are commonly used. |
| Zarçamodonia | A Mora Amazon, a woman warrior, strong, used a sword, able to gather disagreeing armies of Moriscos, Ottomans, and North African Berbers to work together as allies. A "manly woman" (not meaning a Saphist), exemplified in the battle of Galera. Click for Zarçamodonia. |
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