Etymograph

English

bonanza

Bonanza comes from Spanish bonanza ‘dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode’, from Ancient Greek μᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱ ‘softness’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-1uncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ml̥h₂ekos2uncertain
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*məlakos2uncertain
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκός1mălăkós‘soft’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱ1mălăkĭ́ā‘softness’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalacia1‘calm sea’
  7. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*bonacia1‘lull, dead calm’reconstructed
  8. Spanishc. 1500–presentbonanza1‘dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2013bonanza1

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, English bonanza
  2. 2 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek μαλακός
  3. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2013, Bagehot, The parable of the Clyde: “For two decades the bonanza on Scotland’s west coast…”.

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*melh₂-Wiktionary, English bonanzauncertain
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*ml̥h₂ekosWiktionary, Ancient Greek μαλακόςuncertain
  3. Proto-Hellenicc. 2200–1600 BCE*məlakosWiktionary, Ancient Greek μαλακόςuncertain
  4. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκόςWiktionary, English bonanzamălăkós‘soft’
  5. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEμᾰλᾰκῐ́ᾱWiktionary, English bonanzamălăkĭ́ā‘softness’
  6. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEmalaciaWiktionary, English bonanza‘calm sea’
  7. Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*bonaciaWiktionary, English bonanza‘lull, dead calm’reconstructed
  8. Spanishc. 1500–presentbonanzaWiktionary, English bonanza‘dead calm, fair weather, good luck, rich lode’
  9. Englishearliest quotation 2013bonanzaWiktionary, English bonanza. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 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’).

Full etymology on Wiktionary

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.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “bonanza”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek μαλακός. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- / bonanza

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