bravo

Forms

Variants: brava (popular) and bravos (dated).^[1][2] brava: „Brava! ce mai nevăstuică, Cum mai bea la țuică!” “Bravo! what a little wife, how she drinks her brandy!” (a folk poem from Transylvania).^[3][4] bravos: „Bravos, națiune! Halal să-ți fie!” “Bravo, nation! Good for you!” (Caragiale).^[3]

Etymology

The dictionaries give two sources: In DA, Tiktin, Scriban and MDA2 it is borrowed from Italian bravo; the DLRM has French bravo.^{[3][5][6][7][2]} DELR, DEX and Wiktionary give both, and DELR adds that the French word is from Italian.^[8][1][9] DEXI adds German Bravo and Modern Greek μπράβο (brávo).^[10] The Italian adjective means “able, brave” and was used as an exclamation of approval; with Italian opera it spread to French, German and English in the 18th century.^[11][12]

Graur doubted that so popular a word came straight from Italian or French.^[13] He took the variant brava from Russian браво (bravo), judging by its final vowel, and bravos from the Greek phrase μπράβο σου (brávo sou, “bravo to you”).^[13] For the common form he pointed to the Greek word and to Bulgarian браво (bravo).^[13] He saw bravissimo as plainly Italian.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELR's first record is in a work of Văcărescu dated 1794.^[8] MDA2, Tiktin and DA cite the Romanian Bertoldo of before 1799, in Gaster's chrestomathy, where those who had heard cry out “bravo”.^[7][5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word applauds a speaker, an actor or a deed; used ironically it blames, like halal.^[3][6] In the 19th century it was also a noun with the plural brăvuri: Gorjan's sultan and vizier “gave me a thousand bravos”, and Pann writes of generals who gave him bravos with one voice.^[3] A folk saying uses brava as an adjective: „brava gospodari sântem” “fine farmers we are” (ironic).^[5][3] The superlative bravissimo is recorded from 1799.^[8]

Timeline

• 1794 – first record, in Văcărescu.^[8]
• before 1799 – bravo in the Romanian Bertoldo.^[7][3]
• 1799 – the superlative bravissimo.^[8]
• 19th century – the noun brăvuri “bravos” in Gorjan and Pann.^[3]
• 1975 – Graur proposes a Greek and Russian origin for the variants.^[13]

Meanings

Interjection

1. bravo!, well done!: a cry of full approval or praise, often with applause.^[1][7]
2. (ironic) A cry of mock praise, blaming someone: Bravo, acum am pierdut trenul! “Well done, now we have missed the train!”^[3][6]

Noun

1. A cry of bravo: n-a primit niciun bravo “he did not get a single bravo”.^[14][10]

Related words

• brav
• bravissimo
• bravadă

Usage notes

Graur took the phrase bravo ție “bravo to you” for a calque of the Greek one, and noted the old reply to someone who says bravo: “bravo is said to donkeys”.^[13]

References

1. ^ a b c DEX (2009), Dicționarul explicativ al limbii române [Explanatory dictionary of the Romanian language], Bucharest: Editura Univers Enciclopedic, p. 116
2. ^ a b Academia Republicii Populare Romîne (1958), Dicționarul limbii romîne moderne, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 92
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Academia Română (1913–1949), Dicționarul limbii române (DA), ed. Sextil Pușcariu, tom I (A–B, C, D–De) and tom II (F–I, J–Lojniță), București: Socec / Universul / Monitorul Oficial și Imprimeriile Statului; page scans at cflr-scans.solirom.ro, p. s.v. bravo
4. ^ Candrea, I.-A.; Adamescu, Gh. (1926–1931), Dicționarul enciclopedic ilustrat „Cartea Românească”, București: Cartea Românească
5. ^ a b c Tiktin, Hariton (2000–2005), Rumänisch-deutsches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., revised by Paul Miron and Elsa Lüder, 3 vols., Cluj-Napoca: Clusium, p. s.v. bravo
6. ^ a b c Scriban, August (1939), Dicționaru limbii românești (etimologii, înțelesuri, exemple, citațiuni, arhaizme, neologizme, provincializme), Iași: Presa Bună, p. 194
7. ^ a b c d Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2010), Micul dicționar academic, 2nd ed., 4 vols., București: Univers Enciclopedic Gold, p. 1, 241
8. ^ a b c d e Academia Română, Institutul de Lingvistică „Iorgu Iordan – Al. Rosetti” (2011–), Dicționarul etimologic al limbii române (DELR), vol. I: A–B (2011), vol. II: C (2015–2018), București: Editura Academiei Române; continued online at delr.lingv.ro, p. s.v. brav
9. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
10. ^ a b Dima, Eugenia (coord.) (2007), Dicționar explicativ ilustrat al limbii române, Chișinău: Arc / Gunivas
11. ^ Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b c d e f Graur, Alexandru (1975), Alte etimologii românești, București: Editura Academiei Republicii Socialiste România, p. s.v. bravo
14. ^ Macrea, Dimitrie; Petrovici, Emil (coord.) (1955–1957), Dicționarul limbii romîne literare contemporane, 4 vols., București: Editura Academiei Republicii Populare Romîne, p. 1, 272