Carmen

Carmen is the Spanish form of the name Carmel referring to Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a title given to the Blessed Virgin in early Christianity. Carmel comes from a Hebrew word “karmel” meaning ‘garden, orchard’ and refers to a mountain in the Holy Land (modern day Haifa, northern Israel) which was populated by very early Christian hermits, the forerunners of the Carmelite order of monks. The Blessed Virgin is said to have appeared to one of the monks in the 13th century which is how she received the moniker “Our Lady of Carmel”. Carmel was transformed by the Spanish into Carmen (also influenced by the Latin word “carmen” meaning ‘song, poem’ which is also the root of the English word ‘charm’). Carmen is a female name long associated with the devoutly Catholic Spanish, but spread throughout Europe and the Americas thanks to Georges Bizet’s opera, “Carmen” (1875) which was set in Seville, Spain. Bizet’s composition was based on a novella “Carmen” written by the French dramatist Prosper Mérimée (1845). The title character of the opera, Carmen, was its dramatically tragic heroine and a classic femme-fatale who shocked opera-goers of the late 19th century. Today, this masterpiece is considered one of the greatest creative achievements in operatic history.