ChatterBank13 mins ago
A Question On "The Chase"
Bradley Walsh asked for a word derived from the Spanish for 'fair weather' (it might have been 'good weather'). The contestant didn't get the answer, which was 'bonanza'. I have looked for its derivation and found this: early 19th cent. (originally US, especially with reference to success when mining): from Spanish, literally ‘fair weather, prosperity’, from Latin bonus ‘good’. Bradley thought that this seemed obvious, 'bueno' meaning 'good'. But where is the connection with the weather? Where is '-anza' derived from?
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No, it was in the 'Cashbuilder' section. I've copied and pasted this from buenchico's link: Origin of bonanza1An Americanism first recorded in 1835–45; from Spanish: “calm sea, prosperity, abundance of minerals,” nasalized variant of Medieval Latin bonacia, alteration (with influence from Latin bonus “good,” possibly to avoid confusion with malus “bad”) of Latin malacia “calm sea,” from Greek malakía “softness” ( malak(ós) “soft” + -ia -ia )
So nothing to do with 'fair weather', then, except that a calm sea woud be associated with fair weather. Makes you wonder where The chae's question-setters get their information.