José Ramón Fernández de Cano y Martín
Knowledge of the erotic vocabulary used by Spanish speakers of the Golden Age in ordinary conversation enables us to offer some highly suggestive interpretations of certain Cervantine passages. This article analyzes Cervantes¿s figurative use of a word (pan) charged with multiple erotic connotations, and proposes some readings derived from that usage that attempt to clarify ¿both subtly and boldly¿ some obscure points which Cervantine critics have been hesitant to address.