braza

Forms

braza f (plural brazas)^[1] Old Spanish wrote it braça; an Aragonese charter of 1198 has bracas.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old Spanish braça, inherited from Latin bracchia (“arms”), the old neuter plural of bracchium (“forearm, arm”).^[4][5][1] The plural became a feminine singular naming the length taken in by both arms stretched out, the distance between the thumbs.^[4][5] The Latin singular gave brazo, a doublet of this word.^[1][4]

The same plural is Galician braza, Portuguese braça, Catalan braça and Italian braccia.^[1][6][7] The Latin noun is a borrowing of Ancient Greek βραχίων (brakhíōn, “upper arm”).^[1][8] Wiktionary explains the Greek word as a comparative of βραχύς (brakhús, “short”), literally “the shorter one”, because the upper arm is shorter than the forearm.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy), as a measure of distance: the Cid overtakes Búcar a tres braças del mar “three fathoms from the sea”.^[9][3][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century it was a measure of six feet, used in building and in Alfonso X's book on the astrolabe, and in the Estoria de España it also meant a branch broken from a tree.^[10][3] In the Americas it is recorded from 1513 in Puerto Rico, for measuring cloth.^[11]

Autoridades in 1726 defined it by the outstretched arms, about six feet, quoted Cervantes's cien brazas de soga and Acosta's depths of the sea in fathoms, and added the nautical sense, the ropes that run from the ends of the yards to swing them.^[12] The Academy in 1884 fixed it at two varas or 1.6718 metres and added an agrarian measure used in the Philippines.^[13] The swimming stroke is a modern sense, given by the Academy's 2001 dictionary.^[14]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – first record, in the Cantar de mio Cid.^[9][4]
• 1277 – Alfonso X's book on the astrolabe measures heights in braças.^[10]
• 1513 – first record in the Americas, in Puerto Rico.^[11]
• 1726 – Autoridades adds the nautical sense of the ropes of the yards.^[12]
• 1884 – the Academy fixes it at two varas (1.6718 m).^[13]
• 2001 – the Academy's dictionary includes the swimming stroke.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fathom: a unit of length used mainly at sea, based on the old Castilian vara and equal to 1.6718 m.^[5][1]
2. A unit of depth used on sea charts, equal to 1.829 m.^[5]
3. (sports) The breaststroke: Nadó los cien metros a braza.^[5][15][1]
4. (nautical) A brace: a rope running through the end of a yard, used to hold it and swing it horizontally.^[5][15]
5. (Honduras) A variable unit of length for cloth and rope, between 1 and 1.20 m.^[5]

Related words

• brazo
• brazada
• abrazar
• Latin bracchium
• Portuguese braça

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Diccionario del Español Medieval electrónico (DEMel), data publication 2026 (CC BY-SA), Universität Rostock, p. s.v. braza
3. ^ 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. 548
4. ^ a b c d e Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. brazo
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. braza
6. ^ Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. 451
7. ^ Alcover, Antoni M.; Moll, Francesc de B. (1930–1962), Diccionari català-valencià-balear, 10 vols., Palma de Mallorca: Moll, p. s.v. braça
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, p. s.v. bracchium
9. ^ 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. braza
10. ^ a b Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. braza
11. ^ 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. braza
12. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 674
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. 166
14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. braza
15. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. braza