filibustero

Forms

filibustero m (plural filibusteros, feminine filibustera, feminine plural filibusteras)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French flibustier (“pirate”), which is probably from Dutch vrijbuiter (“freebooter, pirate”), a compound of vrij (“free”) and buiten (“to plunder”).^[2][3][1][4] Corominas calls it a word whose history is poorly studied: it appears first in English as flibutor in 1587, and French has fribustier in 1667 and the modern form in 1690.^[5] The Dutch word passed also into German Freibeuter in 1579 and into English.^[5]

The ⟨s⟩ is unexplained.^[5] Corominas suggests it was added in the Antilles, perhaps under the influence of the cant verb farabustear “to steal by tricks”, itself from Italian farabuttare, unless it began as a false French spelling with a silent ⟨s⟩.^[5][2] The BDELC also names the cant word finibusterre “the gallows”, from which Aebischer derived the whole word;^[2][5] Corominas rejects that etymology, because the word is Germanic in several languages from the 16th century and Spanish only in the 19th.^[2][5] The Academy from 1884 to 1917 derived it from English freebooter.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Corominas notes that Spanish writers on Caribbean piracy in the 17th and 18th centuries call these men piratas or corsarios, and dates the word from the Cuban Pichardo in 1836.^[5][2] Boyd-Bowman has it earlier: in 1778 at Riohacha in the form filibustieres, beside bucanieres, and in 1793 in Lima, of los piratas que el vulgo llamó filibusteros “the pirates whom the common people called filibusters”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the pirates who raided the West Indies in the 17th century.^[3][9] The Academy's 1869 edition also applies it to adventurers who invade foreign territories with arms and without the commission of any government.^[9] In the late 19th century it was applied to those who worked for the independence of Spain's overseas provinces, especially Cuba, a sense the DLE now marks as obsolete.^{[10][3][11][12]} The DLE also uses it as an adjective for filibusterismo in the sense of parliamentary obstruction.^[3]

English took the word for lawless American adventurers who tried to overthrow governments in Central America and Cuba from 1851, “lately imported from the Spanish” as Harper's wrote in 1853; the legislative sense followed in the 1860s.^[13][1]

Timeline

• 1778 – filibustieres at Riohacha.^[8]
• 1793 – filibusteros in Lima.^[8]
• 1836 – the Cuban Pichardo, Corominas's first record.^[5][2]
• 1851 – English filibuster for American adventurers in Central America.^[13]
• 1869 – in the Academy's dictionary, for 17th-century pirates and modern armed adventurers;^[9][5] Corominas dates its entry there from 1884.^[9][5]
• 1884 – the Academy derives it from English freebooter.^[6]
• 1899 – the sense “partisan of the separation of the overseas provinces”.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A pirate (pirata) of the bands that raided the Caribbean in the 17th century; a freebooter.^[3][11][1]
2. (derogatory) A pirate, a person who boards ships to rob them.^[3]
3. (obsolete) A supporter of the independence of Spain's former overseas provinces.^[3][11]

Adjective

1. Relating to filibusterismo as parliamentary obstruction (obstruccionismo).^[3]

Word family

• filibusterismo

Related words

• pirata
• bucanero
• French flibustier
• English filibuster

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. filibustero
3. ^ 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. filibustero
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 2, 897
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)
7. ^ Alemany y Bolufer, José (1917), Diccionario de la lengua española, Barcelona: Ramón Sopena
8. ^ a b c Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies
9. ^ a b c d Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra
10. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía
11. ^ a b c Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos
12. ^ Malaret, Augusto (1946), Diccionario de americanismos, 3rd ed., Buenos Aires: Emecé
13. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com