bebé

Forms

bebé m or f (plural bebés)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French bébé.^[2][1][3][4] The French word is first recorded about 1755.^[5][3] Bénaben sees it as a francisation of English baby, of baby-talk origin.^[3] The DHLF regards it as a French formation of baby talk, related to dialect words such as Picard and southern bibi, but culturally an anglicism, since its vogue from the 19th century came with the loan baby (1842 in French).^[5] The French Wiktionary links it to the nickname of Nicolas Ferry, the court dwarf of King Stanisław Leszczyński, and so does the Chilean Román, who calls the word French and used only by the Frenchified.^[6][7]

Some American dictionaries derive the Spanish word directly from the English word: Ramos y Duarte in Mexico and the Tesoro of Puerto Rico, which counts it as an adapted anglicism.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in Boyd-Bowman's Léxico hispanoamericano is from Mexico, 1880: rollizo bebé “chubby baby”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word spread in the Americas at the turn of the 20th century: Garzón records it in Buenos Aires in 1904 as a colloquial word for a small child.^[11] The DLE defines it as a newborn or very young child, used for both sexes.^[2] Moliner and Vox also give the young of some animals, as in bebé foca.^[4][12] Wiktionary also records the form without the accent, bebe.^[1] Judeo-Spanish has bebé too, from French.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 1755 – the French word bébé is first recorded.^[5]
• 1880 – first record in Spanish, in Mexico.^[10]
• 1904 – recorded in a Buenos Aires newspaper.^[11]
• 1922 – los bebés criados entre las polleras de la madre in Argentina.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A baby: a newborn or very young child, boy or girl: La bebé ya duerme toda la noche.^[2][1]
2. (colloquial) The young of certain animals.^[4][12]

Related words

• French bébé
• English baby

Usage notes

The noun is masculine, but also feminine for a girl (la bebé).^[2][1] Bebé probeta is a baby conceived by in vitro fertilisation.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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. bebé
3. ^ a b c Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. bebé
4. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bebé
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. bébé
6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org, p. s.v. bébé
7. ^ Román, Manuel Antonio (1901–1918), Diccionario de chilenismos y de otras voces y locuciones viciosas, 5 vols., Santiago de Chile: Imprenta de San José, p. 144
8. ^ Ramos y Duarte, Félix (1895), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Imprenta de Eduardo Dublán, p. 85
9. ^ Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española; Universidad de Puerto Rico, Tesoro lexicográfico del español de Puerto Rico, https://tesoro.pr, p. s.v. bebé
10. ^ a b c 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. bebé
11. ^ a b Garzón, Tobías (1910), Diccionario argentino, Barcelona: Imprenta Elzeviriana de Borrás y Mestres, p. 54
12. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. bebé
13. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC, p. s.v. bebé