boyante

Forms

boyante m or f (masculine and feminine plural boyantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Spanish boyar + -nte, the verb being derived from boya (“buoy”).^[2][3][4] Wiktionary analyses it directly as boya with the suffix -ante.^[1] Corominas notes that the adjective is recorded about 1350, long before the verb (1726), which shows that the family was in Spanish before the 15th century.^[4][3]

Corominas takes the English words buoyant (1578) and the verb buoy (1596) from the Spanish or Portuguese word, because French has no similar forms.^[4][3] Etymonline also takes the English adjective as perhaps from the Spanish one.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Poema de Alfonso Onceno (before 1348, in a copy of the later 14th century) tells of a battle at sea: con una nave boyante que Dios ovo enbiada, preso fue el almirante “with a light ship that God had sent, the admiral was taken”.^[6][7] Here it is a nautical adjective for a ship that rides high in the water because it carries little cargo and so moves easily with the wind.^[7][4]

Semantic evolution

Villasandino's poems (1379–1425) also speak of a fusta boyante, a light galley.^[6][7] García de Palacio's Instrución náuthica (1587) defines a boyante ship as one that carries little cargo and goes light.^[6][8] Autoridades (1726) explains it as a ship sailing with a fair wind and full sails, and already gives the figurative sense “fortunate, prosperous”, used of people whose affairs go better every day.^[9] The Academy's 1770 edition adds the phrase estar boyante “to be in good fortune”.^[10]

The Academy's 1899 definitions, “having growing fortune or happiness” and the ship that draws less than it should because it carries little cargo, are those of the current dictionary.^[11][2] Today the figurative sense is the usual one, especially of a business or an economy.^[12][13] In Mexico and Ecuador it was said of someone who had recovered health or money after losing it, and in Chile it still means “floating”.^[14][15]

Timeline

• c. 1348 – first record, in the Poema de Alfonso Onceno, of a light ship.^[6][7]
• 1379–1425 – Villasandino's fusta boyante.^[6]
• 1512 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico, of a ship boyante y bueno para navegar.^[8]
• 1578 – English buoyant, according to Corominas taken from the Spanish or Portuguese word.^[4]
• 1587 – García de Palacio defines the nautical sense.^[6]
• 1726 – Autoridades gives the figurative sense “fortunate, prosperous”.^[9]
• 1770 – the Academy records the phrase estar boyante.^[10]
• 1899 – the Academy defines it as “having growing fortune or happiness”.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. prosperous, thriving; enjoying growing fortune or happiness: Tras la fusión, la empresa estaba más boyante que nunca.^[2][1]
2. (nautical) Of a ship: riding high in the water, drawing less than it should because it carries little cargo.^[2]
3. (obsolete) Floating, buoyant.^[2][1]
4. (Chile) Of a body: staying on the surface of a liquid.^[15]

Related words

• boyar
• English buoyant

Usage notes

A separate boyante, derived from buey “ox”, is a bullfighting term for a bull that charges straight and openly.^[2][16] The Academy first recorded it in 1869, as a bull that gives easy play.^[17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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. boyante
3. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. boya
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 646
5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ 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. boyante
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. 544
8. ^ 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. boyante
9. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 665
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 522
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 152
12. ^ Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. boyante
13. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. boyante
14. ^ Santamaría, Francisco J. (1959), Diccionario de mejicanismos, México: Porrúa, p. 150
15. ^ 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. boyante
16. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. art. 1099
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 118