bobo

Forms

bobo (feminine boba, masculine plural bobos, feminine plural bobas)^[1]

Etymology

It is usually explained as borrowed from Spanish bobo (“fool, simpleton”), from Latin balbus (“stammering”).^[2][1][3][4] Gonçalves Viana argued for the Spanish origin in his Apostilas: a native outcome of the Latin word would have the diphthong of Mirandese boubo, and in Portuguese the word meant only “jester” and had no derivatives, while Spanish had many.^[5][6] Houaiss calls the origin disputed, probably the Latin word through Spanish.^[2] Cunha derives it from the Latin word with a probable influence of the Spanish one.^[2][7]

Corominas finds the Spanish origin unnecessary: Portuguese /ou/ can become /o/ before a labial consonant, as in escopro from scalprum and pobre from pauper, and the old vowel survives in Galician bouba “jocular lie”.^[8] He mentions that Cornu proposed pupus (“child”) instead, which meets worse phonetic obstacles, and that the REW also allows an expressive root ⟨bob-⟩.^[8] Figueiredo hesitated between the two Latin words.^[9]

The Spanish word is first recorded in 1490.^[10] The Latin word has descendants in Italian balbo, Old French baub and Catalan balb “numb, dazed”.^[11][12] De Vaan takes it to be an onomatopoeic reduplication, Proto-Indo-European *bl-bl- “meaningless twaddle, stammering”, like blebenti (“to chatter”).^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

Houaiss dates the noun “jester” to the 16th century, and Machado, after Morais, gives a 16th-century example in the eighth Década.^[2][5] Cunha's first date for the word is the 17th century.^[7] In the oldest records it names the jester kept at court, the sense Viana thought the only Portuguese one.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Pereira (1697) glosses it with the Latin words for a buffoon and a mime.^[14] Bluteau (1712–1728) has three senses, the comic actor, anyone who makes people laugh, and a slow, dull man, and quotes Covarrubias's derivation from Latin bos “ox”, a slow animal.^[15] Morais (1789) puts first the sense “fool, stupid”.^[16] Vieira (1871–1874) says that kings kept bobos at court, also called bufões.^[17]

In Brazil the word became the everyday word for a silly or naive person, and an adjective for something trifling.^[2][1] Its derivatives are recent: abobado (1813), bobice (1844), bobagem (1871), boboca (1899).^[7] The word also names a tree of Amazonia, a shearwater, a football game in which a player in the middle of a ring tries to intercept the passes, and in Rio de Janeiro slang a watch.^[2][18] Wiktionary records it in Principense and Sranan Tongo.^[1]

Timeline

• 1490 – first record of the Spanish word.^[10]
• 16th century – first record of bobo “jester”.^[2][5]
• 1697 – Pereira glosses it sannio, mimus.^[14]
• 1712–1728 – Bluteau adds the sense “slow, dull man”.^[15]
• 1789 – Morais defines it as “fool, stupid”.^[16]
• 1813 – first record of abobado.^[7]
• 1844 – first record of bobice;^[7] bobagem follows in 1871 and boboca in 1899.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A jester kept by kings and nobles to amuse them with jokes and grimaces; truão, bufão.^[2][18][1]
2. A person who makes others laugh by being comic or ridiculous.^[2][19]
3. (chiefly Brazil) A silly or naive person; a fool: Não seja bobo, ele está brincando.^[2][1]
4. (Brazil, football) A game in which players in a ring pass the ball while one in the middle tries to intercept it; the player in the middle.^[2][20]
5. (botany) A tree of Amazonia, Tessaria integrifolia.^[2][18]
6. (Rio Grande do Sul) The shearwater Puffinus puffinus.^[2][18]
7. (Rio de Janeiro, slang) A watch.^[2][19]

Adjective

1. Silly, stupid; naive.^[2][1][19]
2. Frivolous, superficial.^[2][20]
3. (Brazil) Trifling, of little importance: uma dor boba.^[2][19]
4. Not yet obedient to the reins (of a newly broken horse).^[2][4]

Word family

• bobagem
• bobice
• boboca
• bobalhão
• abobado
• abobalhado
• bobinho
• bobo da corte

Related words

• Spanish bobo
• Latin balbus
• balbo

Usage notes

The set phrase bobo da corte is the court jester.^[1] In southern Brazil bobo is shared with the River Plate Spanish for a half-crazy person, and ser bobo de boca is said of a horse that does not obey the reins.^[21]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. bobo
3. ^ Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. bobo
4. ^ a b Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. bobo
5. ^ a b c d Machado, José Pedro (1987), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., 5 vols., Lisboa: Livros Horizonte, p. s.v. balbo
6. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. bobo
7. ^ a b c d e f Cunha, Antônio Geraldo da (2010), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, 4th ed., Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, p. s.v. bobo
8. ^ a b Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 602
9. ^ Figueiredo, Cândido de (1899), Novo diccionário da língua portuguesa, 1st ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Tavares Cardoso & Irmão, p. 196
10. ^ a b Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. bobo
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. balbus
12. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. balbus
13. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill, p. s.v. balbus
14. ^ a b Pereira, Bento (1697), Thesouro da lingoa portuguesa, in the 1697 edition of his Prosodia (1st ed. 1647; CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bobo
15. ^ a b Bluteau, Raphael (1712–1728), Vocabulario portuguez e latino, 8 vols. + 2 supplement vols., Coimbra / Lisboa (CLP transcription, Universidade de Aveiro), p. s.v. bobo
16. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 184
17. ^ Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 1, 779
18. ^ a b c d Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. bobo
19. ^ a b c d Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa, Lisboa: Priberam Informática, https://dicionario.priberam.org, p. s.v. bobo
20. ^ a b Aulete, Francisco Júlio Caldas, Dicionário contemporâneo da língua portuguesa (1st ed. 1881), online as Aulete Digital, Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon, https://aulete.com.br, p. s.v. bobo
21. ^ Schlee, Aldyr Garcia (2019), Dicionário da Cultura Pampeana Sul-Rio-Grandense, 2 vols., Pelotas: Fructos do Paiz, p. 1, s.v. bobo