We explain what a bastard is and why this word is used as an insult. Also, the possible origins of the term and its history.
What is a bastard?
Traditionally, bastards or bastardas are called individuals or things that represent a degeneration or impoverishment of their origin or their nature, that is, that they are under some criterion considered noticeably worse or inferior. Also common in this sense is the use of the verb bastardear, which means “to turn into a bastard” or “to treat like a bastard.”
The word bastard is used in certain contexts as an insult, since before those children were called bastard children. illegitimate children or children born out of wedlock especially in times when social castes distinguished between aristocrats and the common people. In many cases these children did not know their fathers (or, more rarely, their mothers), and were the result of secret relationships or relationships considered shameful, especially between men of ancestry and commoner women.
The idea of discriminating against bastards comes from ancient eras, and was in common use from Antiquity to the Middle Ages and part of the Modern Age. Bastard children usually lacked the formal and legal rights granted by the family bond, and In many ancient cultures they were treated as outcasts or, in ages of religious fanaticism, as the embodiment of sin.
Sometimes the bastards were sold as slaves, treated as servants or raised by the noble's own family in a marked situation of inferiority or discrimination, or subject to special laws. Even today, many children not recognized by their parents are not given the paternal surname, but rather are given the maternal surnames and are deprived of legally inheriting after the death of the father.
For its part, the word bastard comes from French batardbut there are two possible explanations for its origin.
- The Germanic bansti (“barn”), in the sense that a bastard was a child conceived or born clandestinely, in a place other than the marital bed.
- the latin bastumwhich was a rig carried by cavalry (in Spanish: “rough”), since in old French there was the expression fille de bast (“son of the packsaddle”), which suggested that someone was the son of a traveler or a soldier passing through.
Continue with: Family law
References
- “Bastardo, da” in the Dictionary of the language of the Royal Spanish Academy.
- “Bastard son” on Wikipedia.
- “Bastard” in Legal Encyclopedia.
- “Etymology of Bastard” in Etymologies of Chile.net.
