babera

Forms

babera f (plural baberas)^[1] Older texts also write it bavera, vavera and vabera.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish baba + -era.^[2][1][3] Corominas lists it among the derivatives of baba “slobber”, with the sense of a piece of armour covering the mouth.^[4][5] The noun continues from Vulgar Latin *baba, an expressive word of children's language, formed by repeating the syllable /ba/ to imitate a baby's dribbling and babbling; it is common to the Romance languages: Italian bava, French bave, Catalan bava and Portuguese baba.^[4][5] The same derivative is Catalan babera.^[6]

Covarrubias (1611) thought that the word stood for barbera, from barba “chin, beard”, with the loss of the ⟨r⟩.^[7] Autoridades (1726) followed him, adding that the piece was also called by that name.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Gran conquista de Ultramar (c. 1295, quoted from the 1503 print) tells how a knight seized a Moor by his iron helmet, quitóle la bauera e cortóle la cabeça “took off his babera and cut off his head”.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The armour piece is frequent in 15th-century inventories and poetry: a 1441 inventory lists a helmet con su bavera, Antón de Montoro boasts of la bavera en Panplona, and Gómez Manrique (1455–1456) tells of a man who died for want of a babera.^[10][2] Nebrija (c. 1495) gives it as Latin buccula.^[11][9] The conquerors took it to the Americas: inventories of 1512 in Puerto Rico list armour con sus baberas.^[12]

Covarrubias defines it as the armour of the face from the nose down, covering the mouth, chin and jaws.^[7] Autoridades also records a figurative sense, “fool, simpleton”, from an entremés of Quevedo, which Salvá (1846) and Gaspar y Roig still give.^[8][13][14] The Academy's 1884 dictionary added the sense “bib” (babero).^[15] Alemany (1917) states that the piece came into use in 1325.^[16]

Timeline

• c. 1295 – the Gran conquista de Ultramar has bauera (1503 print).^[2][9]
• 1441 – an inventory of Diego López de Ayala's goods lists a helmet con su bavera.^[10]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija: Bavera armadura, Latin buccula.^[11]
• 1512 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[12]
• 1605 – Cervantes uses it in the Quijote.^[2]
• 1611 – Covarrubias explains it as barbera without the ⟨r⟩.^[7]
• 1726 – Autoridades adds the figurative sense “fool”.^[8]
• 1884 – the Academy adds the sense “bib”.^[15]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A piece of old armour (armadura) that covered and protected the mouth, chin and jaws: La celada llevaba una babera de acero.^[1][7]
2. A bib (babero).^[17][3][15]
3. (obsolete, León) A fool, simpleton.^[8][18]

Related words

• babero
• babador
• babosa
• Catalan babera

Usage notes

Synonyms for the armour piece include baberol, barbera, barbote and barbuta.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. babera
2. ^ a b c d e f Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. babera
3. ^ a b Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 442
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. baba
6. ^ Echegaray, Eduardo de (1887–1889), Diccionario general etimológico de la lengua española, 5 vols., Madrid: José María Faquineto, p. 590
7. ^ a b c d Covarrubias Orozco, Sebastián de (1611), Tesoro de la lengua castellana o española, Madrid: Luis Sánchez (Biblioteca Wordkers transcription, CC BY 4.0), p. 256
8. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 526
9. ^ a b c 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. 478
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. babera
11. ^ a b 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. babera
12. ^ 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. babera
13. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 130
14. ^ Gaspar y Roig (eds.) (1853–1855), Biblioteca ilustrada de Gaspar y Roig: Diccionario enciclopédico de la lengua española, 2 vols., Madrid: Imprenta y Librería de Gaspar y Roig, p. 1, 298
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. 128
16. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 210
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. babera
18. ^ Le Men Loyer, Janick (2002–2012), Léxico del leonés actual, 4 vols., León: Centro de Estudios e Investigación San Isidoro; electronic version, Universidad de León, p. s.v. babera