The dictionary of the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) indicates that a nickname is the name that is usually given to a person, taken from their bodily defects or some other circumstance. And it’s not just a person who gets nicknames; it seems that between neighboring nations the appearance of demonyms or names that express geographic or racial origin is very common; and these are often derogatory, like the gabacho one.
The gabacho principle
Returning to the RAE, we find that gabacho is a natural person from a town on the slopes of the Pyrenees (mountains that separate Spain from France). Therefore, this nickname has its origin in Spain and is commonly used in a pejorative way to refer to the French.
It seems that the origin could be located between the 13th and 16th centuries, and comes from the Occitan gavachwhich has the following meanings: rude mountaineer or person who speaks the language of the country badly.
Also, the proper meaning of the word is goiter, applied to the mountaineers who suffered from this disease. Some experts point out that the possible meaning of the word gabacho was the name given to those who lived along the Gabas river in France.
In any case, in Spain it is a derogatory way of referring to the French.
And in Mexico?
It is believed that Gabacho crossed the Atlantic, settling in our country not only to criticize the French, but also the North Americans. The word probably reached national territory in the mid-19th century, with the two French and American occupations.
The Mexicans nicknamed the French and American invaders gabachos. Over time, the term prevailed to designate the northern neighbors.
Gabacho, one of many nicknames for Americans
Why do Americans in Mexico give us so many nicknames? According to experts, the anti-americanism is the best explanation. And it is that the United States went from being a colony of immigrants to a world power, with all the threats that this entails.
Finally, it is worth mentioning that currently the nickname is used less and less in a derogatory way, but used colloquially to refer to North Americans, as a synonym for gringo, or to refer to the entire country, like El Gabacho.