I've always been a little amused at the shouts of "bravo!" that often
accompany standing ovations at the end of opera performances. One
never hears such a shout at the conclusion of symphonic performances
or popular music concerts. Do I correctly assume that "bravo!",
meaning "good!" in Italian, is a centuries old expression that
originated among opera goers in Italy? I have the sense that today's
American opera goers revel in using the expression as a way of
proclaiming their membership in the in-crowd. Ya think?

It's interesting that the US Navy's expression for "well done" is
"bravo zulu," which represent the two signal flags denoting the
phonetic version of the letters B and Z. Is there any connection
between the "bravo" used by the Navy and the "bravo!" shouted at
operas, or is this just a coincidence?

Dear nautico-ga,

Are you ready for your lesson in opera etiquette?

Bravo is indeed a term which originated in Italian opera. Its meaning
has been variously described as meaning brave, clever, skilful, or
bold, and is shouted by opera audiences to express approval of a
performance.  Italian opera became very popular in the 18th century
Britain and many Italian operatic terms were adopted into the English
language. According to the source below, Bravo?s first appearance in
England is in 1761. I have found numerous 19th century examples of the
word being used outside of opera as part of speech and writing, but
these examples lessen in the 20th and 21st century, and from my own
experience, to hear it used now is very rare. Sadly, it is now more
well known as being used in the ICAO phonetic alphabet, which brings
me onto ?Bravo Zulu?. ?Well done? was originally transmitted as ?Baker
Zebra? and this was changed when the new ICAO alphabet was adopted. It
is coincidence that ?Bravo Zulu? is used for ?well done?.

Sources and further reading.

Many opera sites have information on etiquette.
Opera Colorado
?Bravo - Italian for "brave, courageous," it is a form of applause
which is shouted by members of the audience at the end of an
especially pleasing performance. Strictly speaking, "bravo" is for a
single male; "brava" for a female; and "bravi" for more than one
person.?
http://www.operacolorado.org/education/index.aspx?pageID=120
http://www.operapacifica.org/pg_oracle.htm

These books are available on amazon - use their search inside feature
with the search word: bravo

English Words : History and Structure (Paperback)
by Robert Stockwell, Donka Minkova " 
Page 44
"At the beginning of the eighteenth century, Italian music and
especially Italian opera became very fashionable in England, and with
that came a new wave of Italian loanwords. Indeed there was a real
explosion of new musical words in English.
Bravo - 1761"

(quotes source of the Chronological English Dictionary.)
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521793629/ref=sib_vae_dp/002-8842816-2466407?%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&no=283155&st=books&n=283155


Oxford Essential Dictionary of World Histories (Paperback)
by Oxford University Press
Page 67
?Bravo [mid 18th century] This exclamation used to express
appreciation is from French, from the Italian word whose literal
meaning is ?bold?. The same Italian adjective gave the noun bravura 
?great technical skill? which came into English at the same time.?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0425190986/ref=sib_rdr_dp/002-8842816-2466407?%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&no=283155&st=books&n=283155


A Night at the Opera : An Irreverent Guide to The Plots, The Singers,
The Composers, The Recordings (Modern Library Paperbacks)
Operatica (from Back Matter)
Applause 
??in certain cases a high degree of Mean approval is registered by
cries of  braVO in the UK and the USA and  BRAvo in continental
Europe. (BRAvo in the case of female artists in a form adopted only by
snobs and native Italians).?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0375751769/ref=sib_vae_dp/002-8842816-2466407?%5Fencoding=UTF8&me=ATVPDKIKX0DER&no=283155&st=books&n=283155

Etymonline.com
?bravo 
    as a cheer, "well done!," 1761, from It., lit. "brave" (see
brave). Earlier it was used as a noun meaning "desperado, hired
killer" (1597). Superlative form is bravissimo.

        "It is held by some philologists that as "Bravo!" is an
exclamation its form should not change, but remain bravo under all
circumstances. Nevertheless "bravo" is usually applied to a male,
"brava" to a female artist, and "bravi" to two or more." ["Elson's
Music Dictionary," 1905]?
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bravo


You may interested in the discussion among ballet dancers.
http://ballettalk.invisionzone.com/lofiversion/index.php/t8646.html


These two military sites provide the information on Bravo Zulu.

The term originates from the Allied Signals Book (ATP 1), which in the
aggregate is for official use only. Signals are sent as letters and/or
numbers, which have meanings by themselves sometimes or in certain
combinations. A single table in ATP 1 is called "governing groups,"
that is, the entire signal that follows the governing group is to be
performed according to the "governor." The letter "B" indicates this
table, and the second letter (A through Z) gives more specific
information. For example, "BA" might mean "You have permission to . .
. (do whatever the rest of the flashing light, flag hoist or radio
transmission says) "BZ" happens to be the last item in the governing
groups table. It means "well done".
http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/navpalib/questions/bzulu.html

?At that time BZ was not rendered as "Bravo Zulu," but in each navy's
particular phonetic alphabet. In the U.S. Navy, BZ was spoken as
"Baker Zebra." In the meanwhile, the International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO) had adopted English as the international air
traffic control language. They developed a phonetic alphabet for
international aviation use, designed to be as "pronounceable" as
possible by flyers and traffic controllers speaking many different
languages. This was the "Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, Delta..." alphabet used
today. The Navy adopted this ICAO alphabet in March 1956. It was then
that "Baker Zebra" finally became "Bravo Zulu."?
http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq101-2.htm


I hope this answers your question. If it does not, or the answer is
unclear, then please ask for clarification of this research before
rating the answer. I shall respond to the clarification request as
soon as I receive it.
Thank you
answerfinder

---

Clarification of Answer by answerfinder-ga on 23 Apr 2006 08:23 PDT

Sorry, a typo in the above (I mixed my bravo and brava). It should
read, (BRAva in the case of female artists in a form adopted only by
snobs and native Italians)

Thanks! I also enjoyed the contributions of frustrated non-researchers! :)

Annoyingly AF had this locked - but that is fair

The transition from 'Baker' to 'Bravo' is very interesting stuff
- it rings a distant bell

Anyway this is just a bit more flesh on the bones :-

Interesting.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bravo&searchmode=none

<quote>
bravo  
as a cheer, "well done!," 1761, from It., lit. "brave" (see brave).
Earlier it was used as a noun meaning "desperado, hired killer"
(1597). Superlative form is bravissimo.
"It is held by some philologists that as "Bravo!" is an exclamation
its form should not change, but remain bravo under all circumstances.
Nevertheless "bravo" is usually applied to a male, "brava" to a female
artist, and "bravi" to two or more." ["Elson's Music Dictionary,"
1905]
</quote>

In 'British English' it definitely means 'well done' or better 'WELL DONE!!'

The BZ flags probably derive from 'radio speak'
eg: Alpha Bravo Charlie ... Lima ... Zulu

But, BZ has a definite meaning - 'Bravo you Zulu warrior'
- which is definitely of British derivation
- I doubt that many Americans learnt to be careful of Shaka's Zulu
Impis in the early 1800's - or their descendants in the 1870's.

Digressing, the Royal Navy has Marines 
- of which Commandos are named after the Boer War Kommando 
- another example of celebrating a formidable former foe.

A not so wild guess is that the US Navy picked up 'BZ' from the British Navy
- it is likely that flag systems are international 
- possibly (definitely) someone else knows more on that than I

---------

I was not aware that 'radio speak' was standardized in 1956
- although I know that a version of 'Anglisch' is mandatory

frde,

You often complain that questions upon which you wish to comment have
been locked by Google Answers Researchers. Please be aware that a
Researcher who is working on a question is compelled to lock the
question in order to post an answer.

During the period when a question is locked by a certain GAR, no one
other than the customer and the GAR who holds the "lock" may post
anything to that question. This guarantee of exclusivity means a lot
to us. Otherwise, we might find that we'd worked for hours gathering
information, only to find that someone else has posted an official
answer and collected the fee. We are not locking questions
frivolously, to prevent others from commenting. We are protecting our
investment of time and labor and seeking fair compensation for our
work.

Frde, take heart.  I too was frustrated by the lock, which came on
after I opened the comment box - ready  - like you -  with the
definition and the detail about the proper feminine form:  "Brava,
Pinkfreud!"
Italians use the expression as a compliment all the time.

I understand that Italian opera fans once may have - or maybe still - 
shout "da capo!", asking the solist to repeat part of the aria, the
equivalent of "encore!"
"Da capo" being the musical instruction at the end of a piece to go
back to the start and continue.
"Encore is when someone likes a certain piece of music and they bellow Encore!"
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encore_(honor) 

Nautico,
Yeah, I think you are right about "in crowd".  My experience is that
the more people have to pay for tickets, the more most of them assume
they are getting their money's worth and feel justified or obliged to
show that "they know the ropes."

Re: "(BRAva in the case of female artists in a form adopted only by
snobs and native Italians)" ... 

I want to take issue with that! If you're a female opera star and your
audience is shouting 'BRAva! BRAva!' then don't devalue that
compliment because of a misguided perception of snobbery.
Increasingly, opera audiences are quite knowledgeable (as opera
becomes more popular) and the fact that they're applauding your
performance in such accurate fashion means that in their educated
opinion, you did a pretty fine job. I go to the opera and frequently
hear "BRAva" being called to deserving divas!

@pinkfreud-ga 

I can assure you, I am simply joking when I moan about questions being locked.
- an attempt at wry humour

By now, I reckon I've worked out the 'house rules', and even avoid
giving a definitive answer in the few cases where I can.

Actually it is quite interesting seeing questions get locked, then
unlocked without an answer.

Incidentally, it would be good if GA had a 'bookmark' facility so that
one could tag questions one is interested in.
I tried posting 'bookmark' as a comment, but found that it confused people
- perhaps you could suggest something like that

Dear nautico-ga,
Thank you for the tip. Pleased I could help.
answerfinder-ga