hazaña

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Old Spanish fazaña, façaña, from Arabic حَسَنَة (ḥasana, “good deed, alms”), via Andalusian Arabic. Cognate with Portuguese façanha (which may be a borrowing from Hispano-Romance anyway). Coromines and Pascual suggest influence of Old Spanish fazer, from Latin facere. Such a derivation would help explain the voiced /dz/ of the Old Spanish term, already attested with -z- in the 12th and 13th centuries, including its first attestation by 1150.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Spain) /aˈθaɲa/ [aˈθa.ɲa]
• IPA^(key): (Latin America, Philippines) /aˈsaɲa/ [aˈsa.ɲa]
• Rhymes: -aɲa
• Syllabification: ha‧za‧ña

Noun

hazaña f (plural hazañas)

1. feat; deed

   Synonyms: gesta, acción, hombrada

   • 2021 January 27, Álvaro Sánchez, “Una legión de foreros de Reddit hace perder miles de millones a fondos bajistas de Wall Street”, in El País‎^[1]:

     Pese a que su inversión no se basa en criterios objetivos sobre la situación económica de la compañía, los foreros han celebrado como una hazaña su capacidad de enfrentarse de tú a tú a gigantes de Wall Street, en lo que muchos de ellos ven como una venganza tras años de ver cómo eran los grandes fondos los que manipulaban el mercado a su antojo.

     In spite of their investment not being based on objective criteria of the company's economic situation, the board users have celebrated it as a feat that they've been able to confront Wall Street giants as equals, which many of them see as revenge after years of observing how the great funds manipulated the market as they pleased.

Derived terms

• hazañoso

 

Further reading

• “hazaña”, in Diccionario de la lengua española (in Spanish), online version 23.7, Royal Spanish Academy, 2023 November 28