Meaning and function in the anthroponimys of Majina, the first galician novel

Abstract

This paper examines the anthroponyms of the first modern Galician novel, Marcial Valladares’ Majina, ou a filla espúrea (1870), a text classified in the genre known as ‘folletín’. The purpose is to study the names of the novel’s characters as regards to the dualist conception that articulates its plot. After a brief overview to recent, and still scarce, studies in literary Galician anthroponymy is provided, the analysis is focused on showing there was no arbitrariness on the author’s side when choosing his character’s names. Supposed flamboyance in some of them corresponds to a social indentity mark: anthroponyms with classist implications for aristocrats, and names of Christian origin for farmers and craftspeople. Along with this, an insistance is made on the fact that, following a long literary tradition, some of the proper names may be understood to have a meaning motivated by the characters’s behaviour.

Keywords

• literary anthroponimy
• motivation for proper names
• anthroponyms and social class
• literary language
• Galician language
• Galician novel