Brewer's: Toboso

Dulcinea del Toboso. Don Quixote's lady. Sancho Panza says she was “a stout-built sturdy wench, who could pitch the bar as well as any young fellow in the parish.” The knight had been in love with her when he was simply a gentleman of the name of Quixada. She was then called Aldonza Lorenzo (daughter of Lorenzo Corchuelo and Aldonza Nogales); but when the gentleman became a don, he changed the style of address of the village damsel into one more befitting his new rank. (Cervantes: Don Quixote, bk. i. chap. i.)

“`Sir,' said Don Quixote, `she is not a descendant of the ancient Caii, Curtii, and Scipios of Rome; nor of the modern Colonas and Orsini, nor of the Rebillas and Villanovas of Valencia; neither is she a descendant of the Palafoxes, Newcas, Rocabertis, Corellas, Lunas, Alagones, Ureas, Fozes, and Gurreas of Aragon: neither does the Lady Dulcinea descend from the Cerdas, Manriquez, Mendozas, and Guzmans of Castile; nor from the Alencastros, Pallas, and Menezës of Portugal; but she derives her origin from a family of Toboso, near Mancha' ” (bk. ii. chap. v.).

In English the accent of Dulcinea is often on the second syllable, but in Spanish it is on the third.

Ask you for whom my tears do flow so? Why, for Dulcinea del Toboso.

Don Quixote's Love-song.

Related Content Allusions Foreign Words and Phrases Latin and Greek Word Elements Names: Their Origins and Meanings Old Testament Names Mythology Ancient Greek Literature & Mythology The Bible (King James version) The Koran (translation by J. M. Rodwell) Shakespeare's Plays Tales from Shakespeare (Charles and Mary Lamb) Frequently Misspelled Words Frequently Mispronounced Words Easily Confused Words Writing & Language