I still remember when we were little and at school we had to read The Way of Miguel Delibes. The adventures, dreams and mischief of Daniel the Mochuelo, Germán el Tiñoso and Roque el Moñigo fascinated us when we read them at school. We comment a lot among those who enjoy them and I think we would have liked to know more about those emotions of that rural Spain than I think there is little left.
Probably El Camino already used some of the words that now, in a great effort of compilation, has reviewed Jorge Urdiales. And Jorge has published a Dictionary with the meanings of 326 words, of rural theme, that appear in the work of Miguel Delibes. The work is from Cinca editions and documents each word with its precise meaning, its context and the book and page of Miguel Delibes' work in which it appears.
Jorge Urdiales Yuste is Professor of Spanish Language and Literature of the International School SEK El Castillo and a great student of the work of Delibes. The challenge for Jorge has been extraordinary because he has had to work for years on the ground to recover the words that appear in the work of the Spanish author. I listened to Jorge in an interview on the radio and commented on how complicated and difficult it was to find the words almost forgotten and little used today with the inhabitants of the most veteran villages.
As explained in the Editorial, the dictionary includes words spoken for centuries in the towns of Castilla and that do not appear in the Dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy. In addition, the book aims to shed light on this rural language of Delibes and is the result of a rigorous investigation by the towns of Castilla and León in search of their precise meanings. Delibes directly contributes to the dictionary the meaning of 45 words that were more or less unknown by the people of the villages consulted. The aim of the book, explains its author, is to save the rich portion of the Castilian that occurred in a linguistically very rich stage of Castile.
Jorge Urdiales has a degree in Hispanic Philosophy from the Complutense University and a doctor "cum laude" in Information Sciences with his thesis "The discourse of a popular-rural character in the narrative of Miguel Delibes". He has written three books about the Spanish author and has published more than 80 articles. He has received the "Province of Valladolid" Journalism Award 2011. In addition, he is a contributor to the programs "Al Norte de la Sierra" on Onda Cero and "We want to talk about the countryside" at Punto Radio.
