bravo French · revision 38652

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1738|origins=it bravo}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /bʁa.vo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bravo''' ''m'' (plural bravos)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|bravo|t=fine, excellent; brave]], the adjective addressed to a performer one approves of.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873) It spread with the opera of Italy, reaching German and English as well.^(DHLF 1992) The Italian adjective had already given French [[brave]] in the 16th century, so the two are doublets.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Rey takes it, probably, from [[pro|brau|t=wild]], itself from [[la|barbarus|t=foreign, barbarous; wild]] through a series of sound changes generally accepted since Jules Cornu.^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|1, 249b)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1738, for the cries that went with applause.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The Académie (1798) describes it as a term borrowed from Italian and used in French to applaud.^(Académie 1798)

+

+ ==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.^(DHLF 1992) 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''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The superlative ''bravissimo'' was borrowed in 1775.^(DHLF 1992) Littré records the construction with the person or instrument praised, as in ''bravo la flûte''.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1738 – First record.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1775 – The noun “applause”, and the superlative ''bravissimo''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1798 – Recorded in the Académie dictionary.^(Académie 1798)

+ * 1842 – The Académie still gives the plural ''bravi''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Interjection===

+ # ''Bravo!'': well done!, used to [[m|en|applaud]] or approve: ''bravo, c'est réussi !''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A cry of approval; [[m|en|applause]], cheers: ''il salua sous les bravos''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==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;^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) 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.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}