bañador

Forms

bañador m (plural bañadores)^[1] Old Spanish texts write bannador, vannador, banador and vañador.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin balneātor (“bath attendant”).^[4][1][5][6] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of the verb bañar, from balneare.^[7]

The same Latin word is Portuguese banhador, Catalan banyador, French baigneur and Italian bagnatore.^[5][8][9] The Latin noun is formed from balneum (“bath”) with the agent suffix -tor,^[10][1] and the Latin word for the bath was borrowed early from Ancient Greek βαλανεῖον (balaneîon).^[1] All the Romance forms of this noun go back to a simplified Vulgar Latin baneum, found in an inscription at Pompeii.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

DEMel's earliest records are banador in the Fuero de Coria, which it dates to the beginning of the 13th century, and bannador in the Fuero de Plasencia of 1221.^[2] The word named the bath attendant: the Fuero de Zorita (c. 1250) has the owner of the bath give a los vannadores what they need, and the Fuero Juzgo lists the bannador among humble trades.^[3][11]

Semantic evolution

In the Sendebar (1253) the vañador is the man in charge of the baths at court.^[3] Nebrija (c. 1495) has bañador de baño, Latin balneator,^[12] and Molina's Nahuatl vocabulary of 1571 uses it for the person who bathes another in the steam bath, the temazcalli.^[13]

The Academy's first dictionary of 1770 defined it as one who bathes another, and added a candle-maker's trough, in which the candles are dipped again and again.^[14] Its 1884 edition was the first to give the sense “bathing suit”,^[15] which is now the main one in Spain: a garment, usually of one piece, worn to bathe at the beach or the swimming pool.^[4][16][17] In Bolivia it is a light tub used for washing,^[18] and since 2003 lighting specialists have used it for a lamp that throws an even light over a wall, a calque of English wall washer.^[19]

Timeline

• 1221 – bannador in the Fuero de Plasencia.^[2]
• c. 1250 – vannadores in the Fuero de Zorita.^[3]
• 1253 – the Sendebar uses it for the keeper of the court baths.^[3]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: bañador de baño, Latin balneator.^[12]
• 1571 – Molina's vocabulary in Mexico City, for the attendant of the temazcalli.^[13]
• 1770 – the Academy's dictionary adds the candle-maker's trough.^[14]
• 1884 – the Academy's dictionary first records the sense “bathing suit”.^[15]
• 2003 – first record of the lighting sense, a calque of English wall washer.^[19]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swimsuit or bathing suit, usually of one piece; also swimming trunks: Metió el bañador y la toalla en la mochila.^[4][1][16]
2. A vessel or trough in which something is dipped, as candles in candle-making.^[4][15]
3. (Bolivia) A light plastic or metal tub, wider at the top, used for washing.^[18]
4. (lighting) A wall washer, a light that spreads an even wash over a wall.^[19]

Adjective

1. That bathes someone or something; as a noun, a person who bathes another, or a bather.^[4][1]

Related words

• bañar
• baño
• bañista
• Latin balneātor
• Catalan banyador

Usage notes

The swimsuit sense is chiefly of Spain;^[17][16] Moliner gives traje de baño and other names as synonyms.^[17][16]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. bañador
3. ^ a b c d e Alonso Pedraz, Martín (1986), Diccionario medieval español: desde las Glosas Emilianenses y Silenses (s. X) hasta el siglo XV, 2 vols., Salamanca: Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca, p. 490
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. bañador
5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 912
7. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 491
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Segura Munguía, Santiago (2001), Nuevo diccionario etimológico latín-español y de las voces derivadas, Bilbao: Universidad de Deusto, p. 75
10. ^ Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ 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)
12. ^ a b Nebrija, Antonio de (1513), Vocabulario español-latino, Salamanca, ed. Marina Vidal Díez (2007), Biblioteca Virtual Miguel de Cervantes, p. 301
13. ^ a b 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. bañador
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 438
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 135
16. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bañador
17. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. bañador
18. ^ a b Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. bañador
19. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (DHLE), https://www.rae.es/dhle, p. s.v. bañador