Bona

Part of speech: adjective

Pronunciation: /ˈbəʊnə/

Definitions

1. Having qualities that are genuine, reliable, or of good quality
2. Describing something as authentic or true, often with positive value
3. Characterizing an item or person as valid, trustworthy, or beneficial

Etymology: "Bona" in the sense "fully genuine" is a borrowing from the Sabir language, a simplified lingua franca once spoken around the Mediterranean, in which "bona" meant "good". The word traces back through Italian "buono" to Latin "bonus", the same ancestor that gave English "bonus" and "bona fide" its core. Its Latin roots reach back to Old Latin "duenos", which was itself a version of an older Italic form meaning "good". The English word is thus a doublet of "bonus": two words from one source that arrived by different routes. "Bonus" came into English directly from Latin, while "bona" came by way of a trading jargon, which is why it looks so unlike the Latin in spelling and sound. The sense "genuine" was not present in the original Latin in that form, since the adjective is used in English largely through the phrase "bona fide", meaning "in good faith".