The Significance of the Name Almudena in Galdos' "Misericordia"

by the fine studies of Robert Ricard, "Sur le personnage d'Almudena dans Misericordia," and Dinah Lida, "De Almudena y su lenguaje."' However, to date, no scholar has investigated and commented on the character's name. This seems imperative for a full understanding of the personaje because it has been repeatedly demonstrated that the names Gald6s gave to his principal characters were not incidental tags, but carefully chosen appellations designed to reflect essential attributes of the character and frequently to carry additional symbolic connotations as well.2 On the surface, the name Almudena serves as a convincing bit of realism-i.e., the reader has every right to expect that a Moroccan character who comes from "Sus, tres dias mis alli de Marrakesh" (p. 1882),3 "pueblo de Ullah de Bergel" (p. 1912), should have an Arabic-sounding name. However, with customary Galdosian irony, the word, when investigated, turns out to be more Spanish than Arabic and is, in its present form, completely Madrilenian. It is so Madrilenian in fact that Gald6s felt no need to explain it to his reader. Since 1085, citizens of Madrid have honored the Virgin as their patroness under the name Nuestra Seiiora de la Almudena (the latter word being derived from Almudit or granary as will be explained later) .4 The one of Misericordia is, in many parts and i many ways, very humorous; and Al udena is, among other things, a very comical character. During the latter half of the nineteenth century, it was customa y to poke fun at such Moroccan types living in the Spanish capital. An example of this may be seen in the caption accompanying a sketch in the magazine El museo universal showing "El vendedor de daitiles, tipo casi espafiol muy conocido en Madrid."' One of Gald6s' characters