Don Quijote Caballero de los Leones y los significados de “león” en el lenguaje de germanía

Abstract

In Cervantes’s 1615 second part of Don Quijote, the title character assumes the heroic name “Caballero de los Leones.” This article argues that the chivalric appellation had a double meaning related to the context of prostitution and gambling, derived from the argot of the Spanish underworld of the Siglo de Oro, the “germanía.” In this sense, the adventure of the lions (2.17) is a sort of linguistic feat in which the character of the rufián prevails over the pícaro. Moreover, the meanings of “león” in 17th century Spain are important in the literary competition against Avellaneda’s apocryphal continuation.