garrochistas

English translation: \"garrochistas\", or mounted cattle lancers

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
Spanish term or phrase:garrochistas
English translation:\"garrochistas\", or mounted cattle lancers
Entered by: Paula Sepúlveda (X)

06:30 Sep 28, 2015
Spanish to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Folklore / bullfighting
Spanish term or phrase: garrochistas
A photographer has taken photos of a bullfight and they are being compared to earlier photographs he took in the Pampa in Argentina. The definition of "garrocha" in the RAE suggests that a garrochista does what the picador does, and this is also mentioned in the text , but I'm stuck on how to translate the term, or should it be left in the original, like picador? Thanks!

This is the bit where the term appears: Encontramos referentes visuales que nos llevan hacia algunas de las imágenes que tomó, tanto en la pampa (con los garrochistas), como en las tierras de Castilla y también vuelve sobre una figura a la que ya había prestado atención y en la que insiste en este trabajo, como es la del picador.
Paula Sepúlveda (X)
Spain
Local time: 14:43
"garrochistas", or mounted cattle lancers
Explanation:
What a fascinating question!

It does indeed sound similar to a picador, but it wouldn't be right to call it that, firstly because we already have "picador" in your text and the two terms are being distinguished, but second, and more importantly, because the "garrochistas" of the pampas referred to here are not bullfighters but ranchers: cowboys, in effect.

The fact that "garrochista" means a pole-vaulter in American Spanish (which turns out to be irrelevant here, I believe) led me to wonder whether the gauchos practise bull-vaulting, which is extremely ancient and was practised in Spain at least until the early nineteenth century, as witness Goya's etching "Ligereza y atrevimiento de Juanito Apiñaniz en la de Madrid", also known as "El salto de la garrocha":
http://museogoya.ibercaja.es/obras/ligereza-y-atrevimiento-d...
Emulated by Picasso:
http://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/pablo-picasso.ht...

I would imagine, in fact, that this may be how "garrochista" came to mean a pole vaulter. It's a tempting idea. But I think it's wrong here. I find no signs that bull vaulting is practised on the pampas; on the contrary, "garrochistas" do something else entirely.

What they are is already indicated in the DRAE definition: "el acoso y derribo, a caballo, de reses bravas y en faenas camperas de apartado y conducción de ganado vacuno". They are mounted cattle herders who carry and use a lance called a garrocha. The following is from a book on "The First American Cowboys" by one Donald Chávez y Gilbert:

"The 13th century knights and Spanish rancher / Caballeros developed a method of rounding up (rodear) and capturing cattle for branding, etc. borrowed from the knight's skill of jousting with a lance. This heritage of Knighthood was carried from Europe to the Americas in the 15th century. The technique evolved from the Caballeros use of the lance. In this case the lance is called a garrocha. It was a 12-foot long wooden pole with a blunt tip used by the Garrochista on horseback. The garrocha is carried and used in a fashion similar to the Caballero's lance. But instead of the Garrochista and the steer racing toward each other as in a knightly joust, the Garrochista chases after the steer. An Emparedor, a horseback assistant, rides alongside the steer to guide the steer toward the Garrochista. Emparedor is derived from the Spanish word meaning to hobble, or tie. The Garrochista lunges at the side of the rump of the steer with the blunt Garrocha and knocks the steer off its footing. The steer or other livestock tumbles, enabling the Emparedor to leap off his horse, bulldog and hold him down or tie the animal's legs."
http://www.nmhcpl.org/uploads/CH2.pdf

I think this is a term with such cultural specificity that the Spanish word should be retained, and preferably a helpful explanation added in English, as suggested above (there are possible variants).
Selected response from:

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 14:43
Grading comment
Thanks!
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +4"garrochistas", or mounted cattle lancers
Charles Davis
Summary of reference entries provided
more info on 'garrochista'
bizisyl
I haven't heard/read thatterm in Argentina
MarinaM

  

Answers


3 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
"garrochistas", or mounted cattle lancers


Explanation:
What a fascinating question!

It does indeed sound similar to a picador, but it wouldn't be right to call it that, firstly because we already have "picador" in your text and the two terms are being distinguished, but second, and more importantly, because the "garrochistas" of the pampas referred to here are not bullfighters but ranchers: cowboys, in effect.

The fact that "garrochista" means a pole-vaulter in American Spanish (which turns out to be irrelevant here, I believe) led me to wonder whether the gauchos practise bull-vaulting, which is extremely ancient and was practised in Spain at least until the early nineteenth century, as witness Goya's etching "Ligereza y atrevimiento de Juanito Apiñaniz en la de Madrid", also known as "El salto de la garrocha":
http://museogoya.ibercaja.es/obras/ligereza-y-atrevimiento-d...
Emulated by Picasso:
http://www.smb.museum/en/exhibitions/detail/pablo-picasso.ht...

I would imagine, in fact, that this may be how "garrochista" came to mean a pole vaulter. It's a tempting idea. But I think it's wrong here. I find no signs that bull vaulting is practised on the pampas; on the contrary, "garrochistas" do something else entirely.

What they are is already indicated in the DRAE definition: "el acoso y derribo, a caballo, de reses bravas y en faenas camperas de apartado y conducción de ganado vacuno". They are mounted cattle herders who carry and use a lance called a garrocha. The following is from a book on "The First American Cowboys" by one Donald Chávez y Gilbert:

"The 13th century knights and Spanish rancher / Caballeros developed a method of rounding up (rodear) and capturing cattle for branding, etc. borrowed from the knight's skill of jousting with a lance. This heritage of Knighthood was carried from Europe to the Americas in the 15th century. The technique evolved from the Caballeros use of the lance. In this case the lance is called a garrocha. It was a 12-foot long wooden pole with a blunt tip used by the Garrochista on horseback. The garrocha is carried and used in a fashion similar to the Caballero's lance. But instead of the Garrochista and the steer racing toward each other as in a knightly joust, the Garrochista chases after the steer. An Emparedor, a horseback assistant, rides alongside the steer to guide the steer toward the Garrochista. Emparedor is derived from the Spanish word meaning to hobble, or tie. The Garrochista lunges at the side of the rump of the steer with the blunt Garrocha and knocks the steer off its footing. The steer or other livestock tumbles, enabling the Emparedor to leap off his horse, bulldog and hold him down or tie the animal's legs."
http://www.nmhcpl.org/uploads/CH2.pdf

I think this is a term with such cultural specificity that the Spanish word should be retained, and preferably a helpful explanation added in English, as suggested above (there are possible variants).

Charles Davis
Spain
Local time: 14:43
Works in field
Native speaker of: English
PRO pts in category: 12
Grading comment
Thanks!
Notes to answerer
Asker: Hi Charles, thanks so much for your research and all this enlightening information. I'm happy you suggest using the original and explaining it, because it was what I was considering, but I was missing the English term, so un millón de gracias!


Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  MPGS: :-)
4 hrs
  -> Many thanks, MPGS :)

agree  bizisyl
6 hrs
  -> Many thanks, bizisyl :)

agree  Elizabeth Joy Pitt de Morales: Authoritative, informative *and* entertaining...I'd give 10 agrees if I could!
6 hrs
  -> Thank you very much, Liz! All best :)

agree  Adolfo Fulco
7 hrs
  -> Many thanks, Adolfo ;)
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Reference comments


5 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: more info on 'garrochista'

Reference information:
Please notice the explanation at the end of the link: Gaucho (en portugués, pronunciado gaúsho) provendría del portugués garrucho, apodo dado por el uso de una garrucha (garrocha) con un elemento afilado en la punta, con el que se cortaban los tendones de las patas del animal para tumbarlo y poderlo faenar.


    Reference: http://www.elhistoriador.com.ar/articulos/miscelaneas/de_cri...
bizisyl
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in SpanishSpanish
Note to reference poster
Asker: Also interesting is Walt Whitman's versión of gaucho (Wacho) in his poem Salut au Monde "... see the Wacho crossing the plains—I see the incomparable rider of horses with his lasso on his arm; I see over the pampas the pursuit of wild cattle for their hides"


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Charles Davis: Very interesting, though there are many other theories about the origin of "gaucho", and I can't find confirmation for this definition of "garrucha" in Portuguese, so I don't know whether it's reliable.
49 mins
  -> Hi Charles. Thanks for your response. To tell you the truth, my intention wasn't to discuss the origin of the word 'gaucho', but to try to shed some light on what kind of activity a 'garrochista' does. Your translation seems to describe this precisely.
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7 hrs peer agreement (net): +1
Reference: I haven't heard/read thatterm in Argentina

Reference information:
Gauchos in Argentina didn't use garrochas. Take the argentinean poem Martín Fierro -our national epic, dealing with the gauchos in the pampas-, the word garrocha is never used. Neither garrocha nor garrucha are included in the Diccionario de argentinismos (1911) <https://archive.org/stream/diccionariodearg00segouoft#page/n...

The method of the mounted gauchos in the Pampas was throwing a running noose over the horns, around the neck or around the legs of the animal and bringing them to the ground.

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Note added at 7 hrs (2015-09-28 14:19:58 GMT)
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that term
Argentinean

MarinaM
Argentina
Works in field
Native speaker of: Spanish
Note to reference poster
Asker: Thank you!


Peer comments on this reference comment (and responses from the reference poster)
agree  Charles Davis: Very interesting to hear this, Marina. It's very difficult to find any references to this meaning of "garrochista" in Argentina. I wonder if it is really a term from Spain that is being applied to Argentina.
3 hrs
  -> Thanks, Charles. You are right. It may be a term used in some parts of Lati America, but not in Argentina.
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