madrina

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   in South American pack travel, a steady mare or other animal wearing a bell and leading a troop of mules

   At dawn the muleteer rang the madrina's bell and the scattered mules gathered around her.

Borrowed from Spanish madrina, literally 'godmother,' from Late Latin matrina, based on Latin mater, 'mother.' South American muleteers applied the familial title to the bell-wearing lead animal that a pack train followed. English travel writers adopted the regional term in the nineteenth century.

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