A semantic approach to the terms soldada and soldadeira

Abstract

Soldadeiras are one of the most controversial cultural agents related to the performance of the lyrical poetry galician-portuguese texts. The name soldadeira comes etymologically from the term soldada, which referred to the payment they charged for their labour. It is likely to be an economic sum or, most probably, material elements. Then, a soldadeira would be, rigorously, a woman who worked in exchange of a soldada. Nevertheless, it seems that the male chauvinist moral of that epoque confused those women who sold their art with others who sold their bodies. In an attempt to understand in a more accurate way the use of the words soldada and soldadeira in the Middle Ages, we will carry out a comparative analysis of the semantics these terms acquire in different works of the medieval romance literature. By doing so, we will be able to conclude whether these women deserved the satires they received from their contemporaries or if, on the contrary, it is a critique of feminine characters.