jornada

American  

[hawr-nah-duh, hawr-nah-thah] / hɔrˈnɑ də, hɔrˈnɑ ðɑ /

noun

Southwestern U.S.

jornadas plural

1. a full day's travel across a desert without a stop for taking on water.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• jornadas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of jornada

1650–60; < Spanish < Old Provençal < Vulgar Latin *diurnāta; see journey

Explanation

A jornada is a full day's journey across a difficult, waterless stretch of desert, particularly in the American Southwest. The word is derived from the Spanish word for "day," and in Spanish, jornada describes a standard workday or the distance a traveler can cover in a single day. In American Southwest history, it became synonymous with dangerous, waterless stretches of trail, such as New Mexico's infamous 100-mile-long Jornada del Muerto ("Journey of the Dead Man"), which has no water sources along the way. More generally, a jornada was the distance a traveler could cover between water holes; if a jornada was too long, people or animals could perish.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

jornada jornadas

The caravans sometimes continued below, to the end of the river, from which there is a very long jornada of perhaps 60 miles, without water.

From The Exploring Expedition to the Rocky Mountains, Oregon and California To which is Added a Description of the Physical Geography of California, with Recent Notices of the Gold Region from the Latest and Most Authentic Sources by Frémont, John Charles

The next jornada was a long one of four leagues, and their camp was on San Gregoria creek.

From The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco by Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner

Stow’s Chronicle, 1631, pp. 845-6, and a Spanish pamphlet, Relacion de la jornada del excmo Condestabile de Castilla, etc.,

From A Life of William Shakespeare with portraits and facsimiles by Lee, Sidney, Sir

In this jornada, we had planned to reach La Frontera, the border of the state of Chiapas, at which place we had been promised we should arrive at 8:30 in the morning.

From In Indian Mexico (1908) by Starr, Frederick

The horses and mules have got over their late excitement, and are again tranquilly depasturing, some having waded into the lake to cool their hoofs, still hot after their long jornada.

From The Lost Mountain A Tale of Sonora by Reid, Mayne

Here was one of those rare jornadas when both the big two were going to grounds where dropping points was plausible, maybe even probable.

From The Guardian ● Sep. 24, 2015

There is a book of his writing, called the Diarium, or the Journal; divided into twelve jornadas, in burlesque verse.

From The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland (1753) Volume III by Cibber, Theophilus

In fact, Naharro did introduce the division into five jornadas, and Cervantes assumes only the credit of having been the first to reduce them to three.

From The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2 by Prescott, William Hickling

Five days, by easy jornadas, they traveled down the river, and arrived on the 14th at the first rancheria22 of the Channel Indians.

From The March of Portola and the Discovery of the Bay of San Francisco by Eldredge, Zoeth Skinner

He states that Naharro was the first to distribute the play into three jornadas or acts, and takes Cervantes roundly to task for assuming the original merit of this distribution to himself.

From The History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic — Volume 2 by Prescott, William Hickling