braga

Forms

braga f (plural bragas)^[1] Old Spanish texts nearly always have the plural bragas.^[2][3] Judeo-Spanish has brâga, brâgas “breeches”.^[4]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Latin brāca (“breeches”), which was used mostly in the plural brācae.^[5][6][7][1] Latin had it from Gaulish: Bénaben and the DHLF note that the Romans, who wore loose, unstitched clothing, came to know trousers through the Gauls, and Coromines points out that Greek and Latin writers of the 1st century BC call the word and the garment Celtic.^[8][9][10] Wiktionary reconstructs the source as Gaulish *brāca, perhaps from Proto-Germanic *brōks (“rump; breeches”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰrāg- (“rump, hindquarters”).^[1] The DLE also allows a Germanic origin for the Gaulish word, but Coromines finds no decisive reason to accept or reject it.^[7][10]

The same word is Portuguese braga, Galician braga, Catalan braga, Occitan braga, French braie and Italian braca.^[11][10][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas dates bragas to 1191, and the DEMel has it in a document of that year in the collection of the monastery of Oña; the DEMel also lists bragas in the fueros of Borja and Zaragoza of 1144–1151.^[6][5][2] The word meant “breeches”, a man's garment: the Fuero de Cáceres (c. 1234–1275) prices them in a list of clothes, Bragas VI dineros “breeches, six dineros”, and the Libro de Alexandre (1240–1250) says calçan bragas muy prietas con firme ligadura “they wear very tight breeches with a firm binding”.^[3][12]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages and the Golden Age bragas were breeches;^[1] Nebrija translates the word with Latin femoralia and feminalia.^[12][13] The proverb no se toman truchas a bragas enjutas “you don't catch trout with dry breeches” is recorded in Chile in 1545.^[14][1] Autoridades (1726) recorded only an Aragonese sense, the cloth put on babies inside their swaddling bands, called metedor in Castile.^[15] The Academy added in 1817 the plural “wide breeches” and the phrases calzarse las bragas, said of a woman who rules her house, and al que no está hecho a bragas, las costuras le hacen llagas, said of tasks one is not used to.^[16][17]

In modern Spain the word names above all women's and children's underpants, also a bikini bottom and a tube scarf worn round the neck.^[7][18][1] In Venezuela braga is a one-piece overall worn for work or sport.^[19][20]

Timeline

• 1191 – bragas in a document of the monastery of Oña.^[6][2]
• c. 1234–1275 – the Fuero de Cáceres lists the price of bragas.^[3]
• 1240–1250 – the Libro de Alexandre describes tight bragas.^[3][12]
• c. 1495 – Nebrija gives Latin femoralia and feminalia for bragas.^[13]
• 1512 – the first record from the Americas, in Puerto Rico: 30 pares de bragas de anjeo.^[14]
• 1726 – Autoridades records only the Aragonese sense “baby's cloth”.^[15]
• 1817 – the Academy adds the plural “wide breeches” and the proverbs.^[16]
• 1899 – the Academy gives the etymology from Latin braca and the sense “breeches” in the singular.^[21]

Meanings

Noun

1. (often in the plural) Women's or children's knickers or panties: Se compró unas bragas negras.^[7][18][1]
2. (often in the plural) breeches, a garment with two legs.^[7][20]
3. A neck gaiter: a closed scarf of light fabric worn round the neck.^[7][1]
4. The feathers that cover the legs of feather-legged birds.^[7][20]
5. (Aragon, León) A cloth put on a baby as a nappy.^[7][15]
6. (in the plural) Wide breeches gathered at the knee.^[7]
7. The bottom half of a bikini.^[18][1]
8. (Venezuela) A one-piece overall for work or sport; a romper suit.^[19][1]

Word family

• bragado
• bragadura
• bragazas
• braguero
• bragueta
• embragar
• embrague

Related words

• briaga
• French braie

Usage notes

Colloquial phrases: en bragas “unprepared, caught off guard” and hecho una braga “in a very bad state, physically or mentally”.^[7][20] A separate word braga “rope passed round a bale, barrel or stone to hoist it” comes from briaga.^[20][22] The Academy first recorded that sense in 1884, and García de Diego places it in his article on Latin ebriacus.^[23][24]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. braga
3. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. braga
4. ^ Nehama, Joseph (1977), Dictionnaire du judéo-espagnol, Madrid: CSIC
5. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 649
6. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. braga
7. ^ 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. braga
8. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c 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, 187
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 1252
12. ^ 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. 545
13. ^ 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. braga
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. braga
15. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 667
16. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 141
17. ^ Real Academia Española (1843), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 9th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Francisco María Fernández, p. 111
18. ^ a b c Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. braga
19. ^ 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. braga
20. ^ a b c d e Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. braga
21. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 153
22. ^ 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. braga2
23. ^ Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 165
24. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954)