banana

Forms

banana f (plural bananas)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Portuguese banana, a word of West Africa.^[2][3][1] Corominas calls its origin uncertain but apparently a language of West Africa, the DLE calls it a word of the Congo, and Cunha a term of Guinea of unknown etymon.^[4][5][6] Friederici concludes that the Portuguese brought the plant and its name from Africa, especially Guinea, to Brazil.^[7] Wiktionary names a Niger-Congo language of the Guinea region and compares Wolof banaana, but notes the view that the Wolof word itself comes from Portuguese.^[1] The Portuguese word is recorded from 1562.^[4][2][8]

The older Spanish name of the fruit is plátano;^[9][10] Corominas thinks that the word gained ground in Argentina through Brazilian influence, and adds French influence in the BDELC.^[4][2] The Academy's dictionary of 1899 explained it as a word of the Chaima people formed from Carib balatana, a Carib corruption of the Spanish word for plantain;^[9][10] García de Diego still gives a Chaima origin.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in Cristóbal Acosta's treatise on the drugs of the East Indies (1578), which lists the names of the fruit and says that in Guinea they are called bananas.^[11] Antonio Vázquez de Espinosa writes in 1625 of plátanos que llaman pacobas y en el Brasil bananas “plantains which they call pacobas, and in Brazil bananas”.^[12][11] Corominas gives Terreros as the first record and notes that the word is absent from the 16th-century chroniclers of the Indies.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In the 18th century banana named one kind of plantain among others: Ulloa (1748) in Peru calls the largest kind bananas, and Caulín in Venezuela distinguishes bananas from the smaller cambures.^[11][12] Corominas notes that the fruit was brought to Hispaniola from the Canaries in 1516 and that it is not native to America.^[4] The Academy entered banana in 1884 as another name of the banano.^[13] In late 19th-century Argentina it also named a pad of hair in women's hairstyles.^[14][11]

Today banana is the usual word for the plant and the fruit in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Ecuador and Colombia, while Spain uses plátano.^[5][15] Colloquial senses include “fool” in Uruguay and “penis” in parts of Central America and Bolivia.^[5][16] English banana, from the 1590s, was borrowed from Spanish or Portuguese.^[17]

Timeline

• 1516 – the fruit is brought to Hispaniola from the Canaries.^[4][2]
• 1562 – the first record of the Portuguese word.^[4][2]
• 1578 – Cristóbal Acosta gives bananas as the name used in Guinea.^[11]
• 1590s – the first record of English banana.^[17]
• 1625 – Vázquez de Espinosa says the fruit is called bananas in Brazil.^[12]
• 1748 – Ulloa describes bananas in Peru.^[11]
• 1786 – the first record from Buenos Aires.^[12]
• 1786–1793 – Terreros records the word, the DCECH's first record.^[18][4]
• 1789 – the first record of banano.^[4][2]
• 1884 – the Academy enters banana as a synonym of banano.^[13]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay) The banana plant (plátano).^[5]
2. (Argentina, Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Uruguay) The fruit of this plant, a banana: Le puso una banana en la mochila.^[5][3][1]
3. (Colombia) Small sweets eaten mainly by children.^[5]
4. (Honduras, Uruguay) A variety of plantain.^[5]
5. (Uruguay, colloquial, derogatory) A fool; also used as an adjective.^[5][3][1]
6. (Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Bolivia, vulgar) The penis.^[16][1]

Word family

• banano
• bananero

Related words

• plátano
• cambur

Usage notes

In Spain the fruit is usually called plátano.^[4][15] Banana split is a dessert of ice cream and banana.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. banana
3. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. banana
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 484
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. banana
6. ^ Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. 461
7. ^ Friederici, Georg (1947), Amerikanistisches Wörterbuch, Hamburg: Cram, de Gruyter, p. 74
8. ^ Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. banana
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 123
10. ^ a b c García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)
11. ^ 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. banana
12. ^ a b c d 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. banana
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 133
14. ^ Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. banana
16. ^ 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. banana
17. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
18. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 211