Morisco

See also: morisco

English

Alternative forms

• Moresco

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish morisco (“Moorish”), from moro (“Moor”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /məˈrɪskəʊ/

Noun

Morisco (plural Moriscos or Moriscoes)

1. (historical) A Moor, especially one who had converted to Christianity.
   • 1901, Henry Charles Lea, The Moriscos of Spain: Their Conversion and Expulsion, page 285:

     In May, 1600, the Count of Benavente, then viceroy of Valencia, was ordered to report whether the Moriscos of that kingdom had any intelligence with France.

   • 2014, Trevor J. Dadson, Tolerance and Coexistence in Early Modern Spain: Old Christians and Moriscos in the Campo de Calatrava, Boydell & Brewer Ltd (→ISBN), page 123:

     It is not uncommon for the reader of many histories of the expulsion of the Moriscos, both those written at the time and more modern ones, to be left with the impression that the expulsion was an enterprise carried out without opposition, an act accepted both by the Moriscos, who directly suffered from it, […]

2. (architecture) The Moorish style of architecture.
   • 2008, W. Eugene George, Lost Architecture of the Rio Grande Borderlands, Texas A&M University Press (→ISBN), page 28:

     Ambrosio de Letinez, a fictitious hero of the early nineteenth century, accurately described the typical architecture of northern Mexico: “The style of building is the Morisco … throughout … Mexico; that is to say, the houses are almost universally one story high, with flat terrace roofs and few windows to the street. […] ”

3. (dance, obsolete) The morris dance.
   • 1601, Marston, John, What You Will, Act 4, Scene 1:

     Your wit skips a morisco; but, by the brightest spangle of tire, I vouchsafe you entire unaffected favour.

4. (dance, obsolete) A morris dancer.
   • 1591, Shakespeare, William, Henry VI, Part 1, Act 3, Scene 1:

     I have seen / Him caper upright like a wild Morisco, / Shaking the bloody darts as he his bells.

Proper noun

Morisco

1. The Moorish language.
   • 1983, Robert J. Di Pietro, William Frawley, Alfred Wedel, Selected Papers, University of Delaware Press (→ISBN), page 69:

     But what makes him different from other comic figures are his Moorish customs and his Morisco dialect.

   • 2000, J. N. Hillgarth, The Mirror of Spain, 1500-1700: The Formation of a Myth, University of Michigan Press (→ISBN), page 81:

     As well as noting the existence of a language different from Castilian in Valencia and Catalonia, he discusses Basque at some length, refers to the “Morisco” spoken in the Alpujarras near Granada, and is probably the first foreigner to mention a group that can be identified with the Mauregatos.

Further reading

• Morisco on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “Morisco” in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press.