en balde

Galician

Etymology

Attested since circa 1350. Ultimately from Andalusian Arabic بَاطِل (báṭil), from Arabic بَاطِل (bāṭil, “vain”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [emˈbaldɪ]

Adverb

en balde

1. in vain

   Synonym: en van

   • 1370, R. Lorenzo, editor, Crónica troiana, A Coruña: Fundación Barrié, page 549:

     Et aos que me assý seruẽ, faço eu ben, et doulles o que deseian, et nũca me seruẽ en balde.

     And to the ones who serve me so, I make good; and I give them what they desire, and never they serve me in vain.

Related terms

• de balde

References

• Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “balde”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “en balde”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “balde”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “en balde”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “en balde”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Spanish

Etymology

Ultimately from Andalusian Arabic بَاطِل (báṭil), from Arabic بَاطِل (bāṭil, “vain”)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /em ˈbalde/ [ẽm ˈbal̪.d̪e]
• Syllabification: en bal‧de

Adverb

en balde

1. (idiomatic) in vain, for nothing

   Synonym: en vano

Descendants

• → Tetelcingo Nahuatl: en bölde

Further reading

• “en balde”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10