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Definitions of "amo":
The broadest: "1. Master; head of the family; 2. Owner,proprietor; 3.
Boss, employer, overseer." (Collins Spanish Dictionary; Michael
Gillman).
Amo comes from ama, given in the dictionary of the Real Academia as
of Basque origin meaning the head of the family and mother (Tom).
Regional variations:
Not "amo" but "patron" is (now) used to connote master/employer
(landowners, in some cases also owners of businesses): mentioned for
Argentina, Bolivia, Uruguay, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Mexico (Shadow,
Rodriguez-Shadow), Honduras, Puerto Rico.
"Amo" is used like "patron": Guatemala, Ecuador
"Amo" is a neutral term, "patron" denotes a more feudal relationship:
Mexico (Schwaller)
The slavery/free labor distinction:
Many comments noted that the term was used in the context of a master-
slave relationship, to designate the master of the slave -- in
particular in the Spanish Caribbean. Dain Borges suggests that "amo"
denotes a relationship of proprietorship: proprietorship of people
(master-slave relationship) and, at least at present, the
proprietorship of animals (e.g. master-dog; Maaria Seppanen). Linked
to the slaveholder-slave relationship, the term "amo", then, came to
designate a relationship of extreme subjugation to an individual
master.
Another term ("patron" etc.) was apparently needed to mark the
essentially different tie with a master/employer in a "free" labor
relationship. Note that the terms of reference people use for their
employers not only reflect the employers' status but also their own
status in relationship to that of their employers. Free laborers and
freed slaves had good reasons to adopt a different term than "amo"
for their employer.
Changes:
Apparently, as slavery was abolished, the term "amo" fell into disuse
and terms such as "patron" or "jefe" became dominant for designating
a boss/employer. As some remarked, the term "patron" "has fewer
feudal overtones than 'amo'" (Andre Moskowitz), and "is not as
overwhelming as 'amo' which connotes subjugation" (Carlos A. Diaz).
The shift ftom "amo" to "patron" may well parrallel the shift from
slavery to a free-labor system. The term "amo" in the sense of
"master" in a coerced labor relationship is now primarily used as a
derogative term to criticize someone's bossy, pretentious behavior.
It is obvious that for the poorer population the term has an
extremely negative connotation. (The term is also used in a literary
sense to designate someone who holds another captive, e.g., in love).
A few quotes from the comments:
"'Amo' in Mexico refers to social superior (the master) in a more
severe form and totalizing social relationship; but again, one seldom
hears it used outside of poetic and literary expressions such as
"tu eres el amo de mi corazon", and the like. One other use of
"amo" however is in sarcasm, to ridicule or mock a pretentious or
over-bearing person who gives orders but lacks the authority to do
so." Robert Shadow, Maria Rodriguez-Shadow)
"Growing up in Puerto Rico in the 1960s I recall that many
descendants of slaves in the southern coast despised the word and if
you got "bossy" with folks, they would reply that you think you are
"el amo de uno" ("one's master")." (Luis A. Figueroa)
"People in Latin America may use "amo" in a literary way to describe
a coerced-labor situation. It is widely used in songs, political
propaganda "los capitalistas se creen los amos del mundo...", but I
suggest that patron is the standard term." (Alex Taylor del Cid)
The female variant: ama de casa:
"In my corner of Chiapas (and not contradicted by what I've heard
elsewhere in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua. . .) "ama", as in
"ama de casa", is frequent. It's another way of saying "housewife".
But "amo" is rare and special: a man doing housework usually done by
women may be called "amo de casa", part joke, part insult" (mike
salovesh).
" 'Ama' de casa". . . is of widespread use in Latin America. However,
the term "Amo de casa" is nonexistent. I have heard in Colombia,
Venezuela and Chile the term "Amo de llaves", someone who is sort of
an in-house janitor." (Guillermo Delgado-P.)
Ama-criada:
About the Southern Cone: "'Patrona' is often used by domestic workers
(women for the most part) to refer to the women who employ them to
work in their houses. "Amo" or "ama" was used by slaves in colonial
times. (Marta B. Chiappe)
About Puerto Rico:
"The feminine form, "ama," . . . could be used. . . just to mean
"housewife" ("ama de casa"), but not as easily to mean the mistress
in an ama/criado- criada relationship. The word "criada" was used
by itself to mean "maid"; the term "ama de casa" to mean housewife;
but the hierarchical-relational term of address "ama" was substituted
by "don~a", and "sen~ora." "
Comparison with the Philippines:
A possible reason why "amo/ama" is still used in parts of the
Philippines may be that the term was introduced by the Spanish to
connote a broad range of personalized employer-employee relationships
(non-slavery), and that the nature of those relationships
(personalized, strictly hierarchical) has not substantially changed
throughout the centuries. In Latin America the term was apparently
linked to the master-slave relationship initially, so a new term was
needed (patron etc.) to connote the master/employer in a 'free' labor
relationship.
The female form ("ama") is common in the Philippines both to denote
one's female employer, e.g. in plantation agriculture (there are
quite a few female sugarcane planters there) and to designate the
employer in a master/domestic servant relationship. It is
interesting that in Spanish-speaking Latin America, the terms
"amo/ama" have been exchanged for "patron/patrona" (or senora etc.)
concerning labor relationships both outside and inside the house.
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Fred Murphy, New School for Social Research
Center for Studies of Social Change
64 University Place, 4th Floor
New York, New York 10003-4520
(212) 677-6317 or 229-5312; fax 477-5409
murphy@cssc.newschool.edu
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