Etymograph

English

bonanza

Bonanza comes from Spanish bonanza ‘dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode’, from Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱ ‘softness’, and ultimately from μᾰλᾰκός ‘soft’.

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκόςmălăkós‘soft’
  2. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱmălăkĭ́ā‘softness’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalacia‘calm sea’
  4. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*bonacia‘lull, dead calm’reconstructed
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentbonanza‘dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2013same form

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Earlier history uncertain.

Lineage

  1. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκόςmălăkós‘soft’
  2. Ancient Greek, derivedc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱmălăkĭ́ā‘softness’
  3. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalacia‘calm sea’
  4. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*bonacia‘lull, dead calm’reconstructed
  5. Spanishc. 1500–presentbonanza‘dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode’
  6. Englishearliest quotation 2013same form

Earliest quotation: 2013, Bagehot, The parable of the Clyde: “For two decades the bonanza on Scotland’s west coast…”

The story

Borrowed from Spanish bonanza (‘dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode’), from Vulgar Latin *bonacia (‘lull, dead calm’), in turn from Latin malacia (‘calm sea’), influenced by bonus (‘good’) under the false impression that initial mal- is a derivate of malus (‘bad’).

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-

miller, meal, mill, mild, mold, mole, mould, mule, muller, camo, molar, mullet, mull, malleable, melatonin, moulin, maelstrom, martel, moline, malm, amyl, 39 more

through Proto-Hellenic *məlakos

amalgam, 7 more

Today it means

noun A rich mine or vein of silver or gold.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκός / bonanza

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