bravo

Forms

bravo m (plural bravos)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian bravo (“fine, excellent; brave”), the adjective addressed to a performer one approves of.^[2][3][4][5] It spread with the opera of Italy, reaching German and English as well.^[2] The Italian adjective had already given French brave in the 16th century, so the two are doublets.^[2][1] Rey takes it, probably, from Old Occitan brau (“wild”), itself from Latin barbarus (“foreign, barbarous; wild”) through a series of sound changes generally accepted since Jules Cornu.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1738, for the cries that went with applause.^[2][3] The Académie (1798) describes it as a term borrowed from Italian and used in French to applaud.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Taken up as an exclamation, it also became a noun, “mark of approval, applause” (1775), replacing the plural bravoures used earlier in this sense.^[2] Until the 19th century the Italian forms brava for a woman and bravi for several people were also used, and the Académie still gave the plural bravi in 1842; these forms have gone, and the plural is bravos.^[2][8] The superlative bravissimo was borrowed in 1775.^[2] Littré records the construction with the person or instrument praised, as in bravo la flûte.^[5]

Timeline

• 1738 – First record.^[2][3]
• 1775 – The noun “applause”, and the superlative bravissimo.^[2]
• 1798 – Recorded in the Académie dictionary.^[7]
• 1842 – The Académie still gives the plural bravi.^[2]

Meanings

Interjection

1. Bravo!: well done!, used to applaud or approve: bravo, c'est réussi !^[4][1]

Noun

1. A cry of approval; applause, cheers: il salua sous les bravos.^[4][1]

Related words

• bravache
• bravade
• brave
• braver
• bravoure
• bravissimo

Usage notes

A second bravo (plural bravi), from Italian bravo “mercenary”, is a hired assassin, mostly in 19th-century literature such as Stendhal's;^[3][9][5] the Grand Robert dates it to 1832, and the GLLF notes that the French form brave was used in this sense from the 16th to the 18th century.^[3][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 249b
7. ^ a b Académie française (1798), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 5th ed., Paris: Smits
8. ^ Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse