bonanza (2009-10-10)

Part of Speech: Noun

Pronunciation: [bê-'næn-zê]

Definition: (1) An unexpectedly rich pocket of ore in a mine, a mother lode; (2) an unexpectedly great supply of anything, as to find a beach with a bonanza of sea shells.

Usage: The California Gold Rush in the middle of the 19th century was the source of today's word because it saw a remarkable number of mining bonanzas. But the word has now spread the English-speaking world around: "After smoking Lucky Strikes for 20 years and hitting nothing, Digger Dieppe finally struck a modest bonanza in the outback." Now the word is used to refer to any bounty: "Hernando found in the old prospector a bonanza of reasons for not quitting his job to look for gold in Australia."

Suggested Usage: Unlike the Cartwright boys of the Bonanza show on US TV, today's word stands alone as a lexical orphan—it has no family of nouns, verbs, or adjectives to defend it in times of need.

Etymology: Today's word is Spanish bonanza "fair weather, prosperity, success" unadulterated. It comes from Medieval Latin bonacia "calm sea," based on Latin bonus "good." The Latin word "bonacia" was probably influenced by malacia "a calm sea," a word borrowed from Greek malakia, the noun from malakos "soft." "Bonus" went on to give us "boon," "bounty," "bonbon," and "debonair." It comes from a Proto-Indo-European root *dwo-n-/dwe-n- "to do, perform properly," which also appears in Latin as bene "well," which we find in "benefit," "beneficial," and "benevolent."