In many sources, you can read that the words “Toreador” in the Spanish language do not exist - he was invented by the composer Georges Bizet to get into the size of the famous Matador Escamillo’s vehicles from the opera “Carmen”. We checked whether this is so.

This information is widespread in the world of music and beyond. As a rule, sources indicate that in the Spanish language a member of the Bulls battle is called Matador or Torero. However, both words lacked one syllable to use Esamillo in Aria, and the composer (or his librettists) had to invent a new term. For example, you can read about this on the site San Francisian Opera, in the book of Burton Fisher ""Carmen" Bizet", On the linguistic portal Educalingo, V biographies artists Helen de Kining and even in an interview with Matadorov Paco Kamino And Elchina Babekkhanova. Touched Topics back in 1965 Soviet poet Lev Oshanin:

“And I still did not think
Taking the Spaniards for faith,
What you can’t hear here: "Toreador" -
Sounds shorter and ringing: "Torero". "

The opera Jorge Bizet “Carmen” was put in 1875 on the libretto by Henri Miliyak and Ludovico Galevi. The composer survived the premiere of the opera for only three months - countsthat he was mortally shocked by a deafening failure. Glory to the work came many years later. Here is a fragment of the famous verses of Matador Escamillo in the original language (French) and in Russian translation:

Indeed, to insert here the words “Torero” or “Matador”, without changing the rhythm, does not work.

The fact that Toro in Spanish means "bull" is known by many. The derivative of the Torero word denoting the enemy of the bull in Corrida is widespread in Spanish and migrated to many other languages, including Russian. And the presence of a very similar to him and a completely synonymous word seems really excess. Nevertheless, the term Toreador is found today in many dictionaries, including the one on the site Royal Academy of Spanish.

It may seem that the question is closed, but this is not so. Language is a living and subject to changes. The word Toreador could, born in the French libretto, become so popular (and the glory of Aria of Escamillo is truly endless), which returned to his native Pyrenees. Therefore, sources can really be given to us no later than the 19th century. An important argument in favor of contacting them is the authoritative dictionary of Merriam-Webster, which claimsthat the first known mention of the word Toreador dates from 1618 in the meaning of "participant in the battle of the bulls."

A simple search confirms the information by Merriam-Webster. Apparently, it belonged only to English -speaking sources, since in Spanish there are enough older books with this word. The earliest of the available - ""Conversations and dialogs»1551 The authorship of the Seville writer Pedro Mexha. In it, one of the participants in the conversation speaks of the wound of the horse and the training of the profession of Toreador. At the same time, the book was written four years earlier, and the printing in Spain was not 80 years old at that time. And in the Spanish-Franco-Italian dictionary of 1609 of the publication It is saidthat Toreador is one who "attacks the bulls well." However, the word Toreador can hardly be considered a designation of only good Torero, since in poem The authorship of Julian de Almendaris, published in 1603, is found in the phrase El Bien Toreador - “Good Toreador”. Apparently, “good” in the dictionary should be understood as “beautifully”, that is, in accordance with the spirit of Corrida. In the same dictionary you can still Meet The phrase Cauallo Toreador is “Toreador's Horse”. Horse again? Why - we will find out later.

In the meantime, it turns out that neither Bizet nor his librettists with the tongue experimented - the word Toreador existed both in Spanish and French (there is the same name drama 1838), and in other languages. Then what is his difference with the one -rooted Torero? Sources They say that the word AtoreAdor is the dialect designation of the Toreador in Andalusia. Perhaps the word Toreador originally came from there - we recall that Pedro Mexhai was from Seville. And then the creators of the opera, whose action takes place in the capital of Andalusia, were completely right.

But there is another interesting moment. In the academic publications of the Dictionary of the Spanish (Castilian) language until 1884 (for example, in 1783, 1803, 1832, 1869 And 1876 years) the word Toreador is given the following definition: “The one who fights with the bulls. It is usually used in relation to those who are fighting on a horse, unlike Torero. ” However, c The publication of 1884 The second sentence has completely disappeared and since then has not returned to the main Spanish dictionary.

Thus, in the second half of the 19th century, the word Toreador lost the meaning of “Torero on a horse”, at least as the main one, and began to designate simply any Torero. Is the Bizet operating in this, thundering just at the same time? It is unlikely. After all, the same short definition can be found in "The latest Spanish dictionary", Published in 1867 in Catalonia. So it looks like an ordinary evolution of the meaning of the word. Perhaps caused by the fact that Torero, the main participant in Corrida, in the XVIII century He became foot, and his assistant, picador now works riding. Of course, in the narrow sense, the word Toreador is used today, but rarely. And on a horse, the magnificent squadmilla can be figuratively: