Did Ibn Zamrak have an influence on García Lorca? The metaphor “hand of the breeze”

Abstract

The metaphor “hand of the breeze” is not common in Spanish literature, although it was used by Federico García Lorca in his work Poemas sueltos of 1921. Writers like Juan Valera and Arabists like Pascual de Gayangos and Juan Vernet, when translating this metaphor, avoided mentioning “hand” and opted instead for other terms, such as “breath of the breeze”, “breeze of the breeze” or simply “morning breeze”, further confirming that this is a strange metaphor in the Spanish language. However, in 1859 the Arabist Lafuente  Alcántara  rendered  the  metaphor “hand  of the  breeze”  literally  into Spanish when translating a poem by  the Andalusí Ibn Zamrak (14th century) that is inscribed on the walls of the Alhambra of Granada. Other Arabists, such as Simonet, Dozy and Dernburg, also translated the metaphor this way. This article is based on the hypothesis that Garcia Lorca, due to his great interest in the palatine city of the Alhambra, knew of this typically Andalusí metaphor and incorporated it into his poetic production.