Etymologically
Log in

bota

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word bota

bota1 wineskin; cask

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1331 an Aragonese inventory
Inherited from
Latin buttis
Ultimate origin
Late Latin buttis
Etymology tree of bota1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin buttis
Italian botte
Spanish bota
From the same root · bota1
Latin butticula ← buttis
Romanian butoi ← buttis

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbota/, [ˈbo.t̪a][1]

Forms

bota f (plural botas)[1]

Etymology

The word for the wineskin is inherited from Late Latin buttis (“wineskin; cask”), with the ending adapted to the feminine gender of the Latin noun.[2][3][1] Because it is recorded later than the related words of Catalan and Occitan, has a narrower meaning and less vitality, Corominas thinks it may have come into Castilian from Catalan bóta or Occitan bota, although the family is not foreign to Castilian, as embutir and botija show.[4] Catalan also has the masculine bot (“wineskin”), with the gender adapted to the ending.[4][5] Other Romance forms are Italian botte and Romanian bute, both “cask”.[4]

The Latin word appears in the 6th century, at the same time as Ancient Greek βοῦττις (boûttis); it is also found early in Scandinavian and West Germanic, perhaps in Etruscan too, and nobody knows from which of these languages it ultimately came.[4][3] In the BDELC Corominas suggests that it may come from an old name of the he-goat, the source of bode (“billy goat”) (1582).[3] Wiktionary takes it to be probably of Greek origin.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the Glosario del Escorial of about 1400, with an earlier occurrence in an Aragonese inventory of 1331.[4][3] The sense “cask”, especially one used on ships and in fortifications, is also old: Nebrija gives bota de nao “ship's cask” beside bota de vino “wineskin” (c. 1495).[4][6]

Semantic evolution

From about 1440 the word was also a measure of a ship's capacity: Pero Tafur (c. 1457) speaks of a cistern that could hold una nao de tres mil botas “a ship of three thousand botas”.[4][7] Covarrubias in 1611 says that in Castile bota is the small leather bag with a horn mouth that others call borracha, and that outside Castile it is what Castilians call cuba, a cask; he derives it from Latin imbuta “filled”, a guess of his time.[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades describes the bag pitched inside and tightly sewn, and the cask used on ships for wine, water and oil.[9]

The Academy derived the word from Arabic batta in 1884, and in 1899 it derived it from bote.[10][11] Today it names the wineskin, the wine cask, and an old liquid measure of about 516 litres; in the sherry trade of Jerez, sentar las botas is to line the casks up along the walls of the bodega.[2][12] In Mexico it was also a large ox-hide bag used to raise water from mines.[13]

Timeline

  • 1331 – first record, in an Aragonese inventory.[4][3]
  • c. 1400 – the Glosario del Escorial.[4]
  • c. 1440 – first record as a measure of a ship's capacity.[4]
  • c. 1457 – Pero Tafur's Andanzas speaks of una nao de tres mil botas.[7]
  • c. 1495 – Nebrija gives bota de nao and bota de vino.[6]
  • 1513 – first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico: 1 bota de vino en que hay 25 arrobas.[14]
  • c. 1570 – first record of the derivative botero.[3]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias describes the wineskin and the cask.[8]
  • 1884 – the Academy's dictionary derives the word from Arabic.[10]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wineskin: a pear-shaped leather bag with a narrow mouthpiece, from which wine is drunk in a thin jet: Pasaron la bota de mano en mano durante la romería.[2][1]
  2. A cask for wine or other liquids.[2][12]
  3. An old liquid measure of 32 cántaras, about 516 litres.[2]

Word family

  • botero

bota2 boot

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1332 Libro de la orden de caballería de la Banda
Borrowed from
French botte
Ultimate origin
Middle Dutch bote
Etymology tree of bota2
inherited borrowed derived
French botte
Spanish bota

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbota/, [ˈbo.t̪a][1]

Forms

bota f (plural botas)[1]

Etymology

The word for the boot is borrowed from French botte, as the DLE and Wiktionary give it.[2][1] Corominas calls it a word common to the Romance languages of France and the Iberian Peninsula, of uncertain origin: the French word dates from the 12th century, Occitan bota from the middle of the 13th, Catalan bota from the end of the 12th, and there is also Portuguese bota.[4][15] He considers it probable that Spanish and Portuguese took it from Gallo-Romance or Catalan, as the English word boot, recorded in Chaucer, is taken to be of French origin.[4]

The origin of the French word is unknown.[16][4] It is usually connected with pied bot (“club foot”) and bot (“blunt”), since the French word first named a coarse, lined shoe that protected against the cold and covered part of the leg, but this is not proven.[4][16] Wiktionary traces it through Old French bote to Frankish *butt.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas's first record is the Glosario de Toledo of about 1400.[4][15] The CDH has an earlier one in the Libro de la orden de caballería de la Banda of 1332, which tells the knight que nunca calce botas nin zapatones “that he should never wear boots or clumsy shoes”.[17]

Semantic evolution

In 1438 the Corbacho of Martínez de Toledo speaks of la bota e el çapato muy engrasado “the boot and the well-greased shoe”.[7] Covarrubias in 1611 describes the boot as leather footwear reaching the knee, tighter than the borceguí and with a cowhide sole.[8] The Diccionario de Autoridades quotes Quevedo's espada ceñida, calzas atacadas y botas “sword at the belt, laced hose and boots”.[9]

The Academy recorded bota fuerte, a roomy riding boot, and the phrase estar con las botas puestas “to be ready to travel; to be ready for anything” in 1817.[18] Gaspar y Roig added ponerse las botas “to make a fortune”.[19] Today the word also names the sports boot (bota de fútbol) in Spain, and in Argentina and Uruguay bota de potro was the gaucho's boot made in one piece from the skin of a colt's leg.[2][20] The derivatives botín (1490) and botina (1607) are recorded early.[15]

Timeline

  • 1332 – the Libro de la orden de caballería de la Banda forbids the knight to wear botas.[17]
  • c. 1400 – the Glosario de Toledo, Corominas's first record.[4][15]
  • 1438 – the Corbacho has la bota e el çapato muy engrasado.[7]
  • 1490 – first record of botín.[15]
  • 1516 – in Puerto Rico, 2 pares de botas para cabalgar “two pairs of riding boots”.[14]
  • 1611 – Covarrubias describes the boot reaching the knee.[8]
  • 1817 – the Academy records bota fuerte and estar con las botas puestas.[18]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A boot: footwear, usually of leather, that covers the foot, the ankle and sometimes part of the leg: Dejó las botas llenas de barro en la entrada.[2][1]
  2. A kind of buskin (borceguí) of leather or cloth formerly worn by women.[2]
  3. (Spain) A sports shoe of tough material, usually not covering the ankle: bota de fútbol.[2][21]

Word family

  • botín
  • botina

Usage notes

Phrases with bota “boot” include ponerse las botas “to do very well out of something; to eat one's fill”, estar con las botas puestas “to be ready for anything” and morir con las botas puestas “to die with one's boots on”.[12] In Mexico, Honduras and the Antilles bota is also the sheath put over a fighting cock's spurs, and a trial fight between cocks with covered spurs.[22][23]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. bota
  3. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bota I
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 639
  5. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 2, 151
  6. ^ 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. bota
  7. ^ a b c d 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. 541
  8. ^ 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. 334
  9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 659
  10. ^ 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. 163
  11. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 151
  12. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bota
  13. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 268
  14. ^ 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. bota
  15. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bota II
  16. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. botte
  17. ^ 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. bota
  18. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 139
  19. ^ 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, 394
  20. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. bota
  21. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. bota
  22. ^ Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. bota
  23. ^ Academia Dominicana de la Lengua; Instituto Guzmán Ariza de Lexicografía (2024), Diccionario del español dominicano, 2nd ed., online at https://ded.igalex.org, p. s.v. bota

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Bota.” Etymologically, 13 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/bota. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·