Rocinante Rocinante Rocinante () is Don Quixote's horse in the novel "Don Quixote" by Miguel de Cervantes. In many ways, Rocinante is not only Don Quixote's horse, but also his double: like Don Quixote, he is awkward, past his prime, and engaged in a task beyond his capacities. in Spanish means a work horse or low-quality horse, but can also mean an illiterate or rough man. There are similar words in French ("roussin; rosse"), Portuguese ("rocim"), Dutch ("ros"), and Italian ("ronzino"). The etymology is uncertain. The name is a complex pun. In Spanish, "ante" has several meanings and can function as
The Name of the Rose The name of the central character, William of Baskerville, alludes both to the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes (compare "The Hound of the Baskervilles" – also, Adso's description of William in the beginning of the book resembles, almost word for word, Dr. Watson's description of Sherlock Holmes when he first makes his acquaintance in "A Study in Scarlet") and to William of Ockham (see the next section). The name of the narrator, his apprentice Adso of Melk is among other things a pun on Simplicio from Galileo Galilei's "Dialogue"; Adso deriving from "ad Simplicio" ("to Simplicio"). Adso's putative place of origin,