Etymologically
Log in

brisa

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Spanish word brisa

Confidence
Uncertain
First attested
1498 Relación del Tercer Viaje de Colón More words from the 15th century

Pronunciation

  • /ˈbɾisa/, [ˈbɾi.sa][1]

Forms

brisa f (plural brisas)[1]

Etymology

The origin of the word is uncertain.[2][3][4] The word is shared with Portuguese brisa, Catalan brisa, French brise, Italian brezza and English breeze; it appears first in Catalan, in the 15th century, but spread only with the voyages of the 16th, which suggests to Corominas a Catalan word made international by Spanish sailors.[4][3] Its first sense was a north-easterly or easterly wind in the American seas, usually strong; the sense “gentle wind” is modern.[4][3]

Braune proposed a Germanic origin, and the REW compares an East Frisian verb meaning “to blow hard”, but Corominas notes that the word cannot be old in English or Dutch.[4] He also considers a crossing of French bise (“north wind”), of Germanic origin (compare Old High German bisa), with briser (“to break”), since the north-easterly winds of the American coasts were violent;[5][1] Hubschmid thought the word Gaulish.[4] Lüdtke derives it from Italian, with the Ibero-Romance word borrowed from Genoese, and Corominas finds some of his arguments inadmissible but thinks the Italian evidence deserves more study.[4] García de Diego derives it from the Germanic word bisa (“north wind”) with an ⟨r⟩ taken from a synonym, and Wiktionary from Old French bise or from Vulgar Latin *bize.[5][1] The Academy's dictionary traced it to Anglo-Saxon in 1884 and 1899, and Alemany in 1917 to Latin versa (“turned”).[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record in the CDH is the Relación del Tercer Viaje de Colón (1498), on the strong and contrary brisas near Santo Domingo.[9] In Columbus's letters of 1502 the brisa is the trade wind from east-north-east and north-north-east.[9] Corominas's first record is of 1504.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th-century chronicles the brisas are the steady north-easterly winds of the Caribbean, and José de Acosta explains them as the winds from the east that blow in the tropics.[9][10][11] The Academy defined the word as a north-easterly wind, the opposite of the vendaval, from 1770; it added the sea breeze in 1869 and the alternating land and sea breezes of coasts in 1884.[12][13][6] The sense “gentle wind” became usual only in the 19th century, although it appears now and then earlier.[3][4] In the Antilles the derivative brisote still names a violent wind.[4]

In the Canaries brisa is the north-east trade wind that blows over the islands.[14] In Honduras, Nicaragua, Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Colombia it can mean light rain, and in Cuba hunger or appetite; in Puerto Rico coger brisa means “to run away”.[2][15][16][17] English breeze appears about 1565, and French brise in 1611.[4]

Timeline

  • 1400s – the first records of Catalan brisa.[3][4]
  • 1498 – the Relación del Tercer Viaje de Colón has the earliest Spanish record.[9]
  • 1502 – Columbus's letters use brisa for the north-easterly trade wind.[9]
  • 1504 – Corominas's first record.[4][3]
  • 1513 – the first record from Tierra Firme.[11]
  • c. 1565 – English breeze is first recorded.[4]
  • 1582 – Italian brisa in Sassetti, as a sailors' word.[4]
  • 1726 – the Diccionario de Autoridades defines the north wind and its quarters.[10]
  • 1869 – the Academy adds the sea breeze that cools the shore.[13]
  • 1800s – the sense “gentle wind” becomes usual.[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A gentle wind, a breeze: Al atardecer se levantó una brisa fresca.[2][1]
  2. A north-easterly wind, the opposite of the vendaval; the trade wind.[2][14]
  3. A light wind of coasts, which blows in from the sea by day and off the land at night.[2]
  4. (Colombia, Central America, Caribbean) drizzle, light passing rain.[2][15]
  5. (Cuba) Strong hunger, appetite.[2][15]

Usage notes

A separate word brisa, Aragonese and Murcian, means the skins of pressed grapes; it comes from the Hispanic Latin word brisa, which Columella records as a rustic word, and is first recorded in 1378.[18][2] Corominas relates it to Gaulish-Latin brisare “to crush (grapes)” and French briser “to break”, of Celtic origin.[18] The Diccionario de Autoridades records it as used in Aragon.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. brisa
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. brisa
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 668
  5. ^ a b García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. 1044
  6. ^ 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. 168
  7. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 155
  8. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena, p. 276
  9. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. brisa
  10. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (1726–1739), Diccionario de la lengua castellana (Diccionario de Autoridades), 6 vols., Madrid: Francisco del Hierro, p. 1, 685
  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. brisa
  12. ^ Real Academia Española (1770), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 2nd ed., vol. I: A–B, Madrid: Joachín Ibarra, p. 534
  13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 121
  14. ^ a b Real Academia Española (2021–), Tesoro de los diccionarios históricos de la lengua española (TDHLE): Diccionario histórico (1933–1936), its unpublished slips, Diccionario histórico (1960–1996), DHECan, DHECR, DHEVen, https://www.rae.es/tdhle, p. s.v. brisa
  15. ^ a b c Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2010), Diccionario de americanismos, Lima: Santillana; online at https://www.asale.org/damer, p. s.v. brisa
  16. ^ Suárez, Constantino (1921), Vocabulario cubano, La Habana: Librería Cervantes / Madrid: Perlado, Páez y Compañía, p. 77
  17. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé, p. 166
  18. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 669
Cite this entry

“Brisa.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/es/brisa. Accessed 7 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·