bafún

bafún

See also: bafûn

Galician

Alternative forms

• bacúa, bafú, cafúa, mafúa

Etymology

From Old Galician and Old Portuguese befua (13th century, used by the Galician author Airas Nunes), from bafo (“smell, puff”) +‎ -ún. Cognate with Portuguese bafum and Spanish bahúno, bajuno.[1]

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈfuŋ/

Adjective

bafún m (feminine singular bafúa, masculine plural bafúns, feminine plural bafúas)

1. poor and miserable; despicable
   • 1867, Antonio de la Iglesia, Poesías:

     qu'é moitiña honra dinidá e fachenda poder un homiño ben erguida'a testa decir en bo torgo: Miña terra é esta. Só por unha chisca d'homildade fea que non vén ó caso porque x'é baixeza de xente bafúa e gafa ralea indina de entr'homes ergué-la cabeza algús galleguiños d'almiña pequena cativa, mingoada, coa boca aberta ó tempo que scoitan cen linguas alleas e danlle mil laudes sin valer corenta enzarran a súa no fondo da terra pensando que dina non é como aquelas

     because it's large honour, dignity and pride, for a common man, his head high, to say with clear voice: This is my land. Just for a little bit of ugly humbleness —that is beside the point, because it is but lowness typical of despicable people, leprous kind, unfit for rising the head among men— some Galicians having a small, worthless, diminished soul, their mouth open at the same time that they hear a hundred foreign tongues, which they give a thousand praises whilst not worthing forty, they bury their language under the ground thinking that is not as worthy as theirs

   Synonym: ruín

Derived terms

• xente bafúa

Related terms

• bafar
• bafarada
• bafexar
• bafo
• cafúa (“hut, hovel”)

References

• “befua” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
• “baffua” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
• “bafúa” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “cafúa” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “bafún” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “bafum” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.

1. Joan Coromines; José A. Pascual (1983–1991), “vaho”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico (in Spanish), Madrid: Gredos