búho

Forms

búho m (plural búhos)^[1] Old Spanish had bufo beside the more common buho, and bufo is still used in Aragon;^[1] Juan Manuel also has buhón.^[2] The spelling buho without the accent is also found.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin bufo (“owl”), the Vulgar Latin form of classical Latin būbō, through Old Spanish bufo.^[2][3][4][1] The form with ⟨f⟩ is found in Latin glosses and in manuscripts of Isidore, and one gloss has būfus.^[2][1] Corominas explains that Spanish kept the Latin nominative rather than the accusative bufonem, and that the ⟨f⟩ between vowels was not voiced because the name was felt to imitate the bird's call.^[2] The accusative did survive in Upper Aragonese bobón, with voicing, and in Juan Manuel's buhón.^[2]

The same Latin word is Portuguese bufo, Galician bufo and Italian gufo.^[2][5][6] An Arabic name of the owl used by an eastern author of the 10th century is probably an independent imitation of the cry, as Berber and other languages have similar names.^[2]

The Latin noun imitates the owl's hoot, like Ancient Greek βύας (búas) and an Armenian բու (bu).^[7][1][8] De Vaan treats it as a reduplicated form.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Moamín, a book on hunting animals translated by Abraham of Toledo (1250, in a copy of the second half of the 13th century), on what to feed falcons: la carne del búho es mala “owl's meat is bad”.^[9] About the same time the Poridat de las poridades calls a man malauenturado como buho “ill-fated as an owl”, and Alfonso X's Espéculo lists los buhos & las lechuzas among the birds that hunt by night.^[9] Corominas's own first record is in Alfonso X.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the owl was a bird of ill omen: Alfonso X's Estoria de España (c. 1270) speaks of the owl as messenger of death.^[9][8] The derivative buharro, a bird of prey like the owl, is first found in the 15th century and in Nebrija.^[2][3]

The DRAE of 2001 already had the colloquial sense “unsociable person”; the DLE has added “night bus”, a Spanish name for the city buses that run during the night.^[10][4][11] Wiktionary also records a colloquial sense “informer”.^[1] In zoology Moliner keeps the name for the eagle owl, Bubo bubo, and notes that it is commonly given to all nocturnal birds of prey with ear tufts.^[11]

Timeline

• 1250 – first record, in the Moamín (copy of the second half of the 13th century).^[9]
• c. 1250 – Poridat de las poridades: malauenturado como buho.^[9]
• 1250–1279 – Alfonso X's Lapidario describes a figure with an owl under its feet.^[12]
• c. 1270 – the Estoria de España calls the owl a messenger of death.^[9]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin bubo for buho.^[13]
• 1495 – the derivative buharro.^[3]
• 1551 – first record from the Americas, in Santo Domingo.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. An owl, properly the eagle owl (Bubo bubo): a large nocturnal bird of prey with a hooked beak, large forward-facing eyes and tufts of feathers like ears; commonly any owl with ear tufts.^[4][11][1]
2. (colloquial) An unsociable, surly person: Desde que se jubiló se ha vuelto un búho y no sale de casa.^[4][15]
3. (Spain, colloquial) A night bus: a city bus that runs during the night, when the regular service has stopped.^[4][1]
4. (colloquial) An informer.^[1]

Word family

• buharro

Related words

• lechuza
• tecolote
• Latin bubo
• Italian gufo

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 691
3. ^ a b c d Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. buho
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. búho
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. bubo
6. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 83
7. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press, p. s.v. bubo
9. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. búho
10. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. búho
11. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. búho
12. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. búho
13. ^ Lleal, Coloma (dir.), DICCA-XV: Diccionario del castellano del siglo XV en la Corona de Aragón, Barcelona: Universitat de Barcelona, Grup d'Estudis d'Història de la Llengua (GHCL), https://ghcl.ub.edu/diccaxv, p. s.v. búho
14. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. boho
15. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. búho