A boat is a small boat.
A boat is a small vessel . The usual thing is that the boat - a term whose etymological origin is found in Latin - is used to cross a river or to carry out fishing activities .
It can be said that a boat is a boat that is open at both ends and has a flat shape. They are generally rowing boats, although rope boats also exist. In the latter case, a swimmer is in charge of carrying a rope to the shore, while the other end is tied to the boat. In this way it is easy to cross a river, transporting people, merchandise, animals, etc.
For example: “My grandfather lived in the delta of the Paraná River: there he had a boat and he dedicated himself to transporting food to the islands in the region” , “Tragedy in the Mediterranean: a boat sank with twenty people trying to reach Europe.” ” , “We were in the boat fishing all afternoon” .
Boats in mythology
We cannot forget that in the world of mythology boats play an essential role in many cases. This is how the famous boat of Charon , the ferryman of Hades , stands out. This was in charge of carrying the recently deceased from one side of the Acheron River to the other. But he only did it if they could pay him money, which is why in ancient times the deceased were buried with a coin under their tongue.
Souls that did not have money had to spend a hundred years along the river banks. Then, after that time, Charon did take them in his boat for free.
Precisely that water vehicle and its owner are represented in the painting “The Passage of the Styx” or “Charon Crossing the Styx” . It was made in 1520 by the Flemish painter Joachim Patinir ( 1480 – 1524 ) and is currently in the Prado Museum in Madrid .
The boats can be rowed or roped.
Denomination of different localities
Barca , on the other hand, is the name of a Spanish municipality that is part of the province of Soria , in the autonomous community of Castilla y León . This town has just over one hundred inhabitants.
In Libya , Barca is the name of a city that was a Greek colony and was also under Byzantine and Roman rule.
The writer Pedro Calderón de la Barca
Pedro Calderón de la Barca , meanwhile, was a writer and priest born in 1600 in Madrid and died in 1681 in the same Spanish city.
Calderón de la Barca is considered one of the great authors of the so-called Golden Age .
a song
We must not overlook that there is a very well-known song in Spain that has the word in question in its title. We are referring to “Who drives my boat” , by the Sevillian singer Remedios Amaya . It is a single with which he attended the Eurovision Song Contest in 1983 representing the aforementioned country.
The song has gone down in the annals of Spanish history in that musical competition for two reasons: it did not obtain a single point and its performer put it on stage without wearing shoes.