Etymologically
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bonacia

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Forms

bonacia f (genitive bonaciae); first declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is malacia (“calm at sea”) reshaped after bonus (“good”), as if the first syllable of that noun were malus1 (“bad”).[3][2] Niccolò Perotti explained in his Cornucopiae that sailors and the common people said bonacia to avoid the ill omen of malacia.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Du Cange quotes it from Boncompagno's account of the siege of Ancona, which hopes that the sea of tribulations may turn into a calm.[4]

Semantic evolution

Romance kept the word: Italian bonaccia, French bonace, Catalan bonança and Spanish bonanza are its descendants.[3] From the Spanish word, which had come to mean prosperity and a rich vein of ore, English has bonanza, from 1826.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A calm at sea, a lull.[2][4][1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
  2. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  3. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  4. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
  5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com