apocryphal

The Greek term apokryphos derived in a Latin word that, in turn, arrived in Castilian as apocryphal. The first meaning mentioned in the dictionary developed by the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) refers to an adjective that qualifies the simulated, the non-existent or the faked.

For example: "An apocryphal nobleman appeared in the newspaper's editorial office denouncing that he had been scammed by the mayor", "In the town they have the custom of worshiping an apocryphal saint", "The young man tried to enter the country with an apocryphal document, but was detained by the police".

The most common use of apocryphal is linked to the authenticity of a construction site regarding his authorship. For various reasons, a creation is often incorrectly attributed to a certain person. In those cases, the work is said to be apocryphal.

Suppose that a public letter supposedly written by an actor begins to circulate on social networks, the text of which presents strong criticism of the government shift. The actor in question, upon learning of the letter attributed to him, denies his authorship. The letter, therefore, is apocryphal.

There are even famous phrases which are apocryphal since they are wrongly attributed. A example it is "They bark, Sancho: signal that we ride", an expression that is usually believed was pronounced by Don Quijote of La Mancha in the famous work of Miguel de Cervantes, even if it doesn't appear in the book.

Even though this appointment has not been correctly attributed, since it does not belong to the Don Quijote of La Mancha, his story is very interesting and far from a mere mistake. Some specialists believe that it may derive from a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, published in 1808, in which three of his verses say «They bark loudly ... / But their shrill barks / They are only a sign that we are riding». With regard to the name "Sancho", it seems that Rubén Darío added it many decades later, when he appropriated these verses to create the expression that over time became an apocryphal quote.

The meaning of this expression is that the criticisms of the detractors often show us that we are on the right track. In this particular case, we can note that the term apocryphal does not always have a "dangerous" connotation; While scholars of the literature and authors involved in the confusion might not be happy, this is a error that he does not intend to harm anyone, and that he has a very simple solution: read the story in question to discover that the quote is not correct.

In the field of religion, finally, it is qualified as apocryphal to that is not accepted in the canons. exist apocryphal gospels that are not part of the doctrine of the Catholic Church.

Another name by which the apocryphal gospels are known is extra canonical gospels. It is a series of texts that emerged during the beginning of Christianity to describe Jesus of Nazareth, which are not included in the Canyon of the Tanach nor of any Bible used by the different congregations of Christians. One of the most prominent manuscripts of this group is those of Nag Hammadi.

Despite having been called gospels, these apocryphal writings have a style and content clearly different from those that we can find in the texts canonical. While the latter do not rely on ornaments for their apostolic preaching, the former are characterized by an abundance of extravagant and exaggerated situations, typical of fantasy, and the teachings they present are not equivalent to those of the official Bible.