briba

Forms

briba f (uncountable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Spanish bribia, of which the DLE and Wikcionario consider it a shortened form.^[2][3] That word continues blibia, a metathesis of biblia “Bible”.^[4][1] Corominas explains the sense through the Bible taken as “learning, worldly wisdom”: the longer form named the art of the beggar or rogue who lived at others' expense, above all the persuasive patter, full of prayers and religious arguments, with which a beggar moved people to pity and charity.^[5][6] The same altered form is used for the Holy Scriptures themselves in a 14th-century Lucidario, in Santillana and in the Cancionero de Baena, and is still the form of the Sephardic Jews of Morocco.^[5] Juan Hidalgo's slang glossary of 1609 defines the spelling ⟨brivia⟩ as flattering someone with fine words to deceive him.^[5]

From these forms came the verb bribar and the noun bribón “rogue”.^[5][6] Corominas takes Castilian, the language of the picaresque, as the starting point of the European family: Catalan briba “idleness” comes from Spanish, as does the Occitan family with metathesis that gave Italian birba and birbone; French bribe “beggar's crust”, later “scrap”, and English bribe, which went from “gift to a beggar” to “corrupting gift”, belong to the same word.^[5][6] In France brimbe (“crust in a bag”) appears as early as the 14th century, before the Castilian texts;^[7][8] Corominas puts this down to the late recording of slang in Spain and to the beggars and pilgrims on the road to Santiago, and he rejects a derivation from an Old High German word for “bread”.^[5]

Older views: Autoridades in 1726 derived it from bribeux (“beggar”), and the Academy's dictionaries from 1884 to 1899 from a Low Latin briba (“piece of bread begged as alms”).^[9][7][8] Moliner follows the derivation from the Bible in the sense “learning”.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Autoridades in 1726 defines briba as the idleness and roguish art of those who feign poverty and make beggars' speeches so as not to work and to live as they please, and says that bribia was used in the same sense.^[9] Corominas dates the related bribia and the verb bribar to 1599.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

The Academy's dictionary shortened the definition to “roguish idleness” in 1770 and added the phrase a la briba “idly”, used with andar and echarse; from 1884 the phrase is andar or echarse a la briba “to live a roguish, idle life, or take to it”.^[11][12][7] Terreros described it as the idleness of those who go about lost or begging.^[13] Moliner defines it as the life and world of rogues and vagabonds, the underworld.^[10] The word is rare in modern texts: Boyd-Bowman's records from the Americas are from Mexico City in 1942 (bribia) and Puerto Rico in 1954.^[14]

Timeline

• 1599 – first records of bribia and of the verb bribar.^[6]
• 1601 – first record of the derivative bribón.^[6]
• 1609 – Juan Hidalgo's slang vocabulary defines brivia as deceiving with flattering words.^[5]
• 1726 – Autoridades records briba and bribia as interchangeable.^[9]
• 1770 – the Academy's dictionary has the phrase a la briba.^[11]
• 1884 – the Academy gives an etymology for the first time, a Low Latin briba “begged bread”.^[7]
• 1954 – recorded in Puerto Rico.^[14]

Meanings

Noun

1. Roguish idleness; the life of a rogue (pícaro) or vagabond.^[2][10][1]
2. andar or echarse a la briba: to live an idle, roguish life, or to take to one.^[2][10]

Word family

• bribón
• bribar

Related words

• bribia
• biblia
• French bribe

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. briba
3. ^ Wikcionario (Spanish Wiktionary), es.wiktionary.org
4. ^ Real Academia Española (2001), Diccionario de la lengua española, 22nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe, p. s.v. briba
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 663
6. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bribón
7. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1884), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 12th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de D. Gregorio Hernando (the first Academy edition with etymologies), p. 168
8. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 155
9. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 681
10. ^ a b c d Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. briba
11. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 1, 532
12. ^ Real Academia Española (1817), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 5th ed., Madrid: Imprenta Real, p. 143
13. ^ Terreros y Pando, Esteban de (1786–1793), Diccionario castellano con las voces de ciencias y artes y sus correspondientes de las tres lenguas francesa, latina e italiana, 4 vols., Madrid: Viuda de Ibarra, p. 1, 273
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. briba