Etymology
The word timba is part of a large family of ìmbî and ìngî words which made their way into Spanish from African languages. Among the hundreds of other examples are tumba, rumba, marimba, kalimba, mambo, conga, and bongo.—Moore (2010: v. 5: 11).Before it became the newest Cuban music and dance craze, timba was a word with several different uses yet no particular definition, mostly heard within the Afro-Cuban genre of rumba. A timbero was a complimentary term for a musician, and timba often referred to the collection of drums in a folklore ensemble. But since the 1990s, timba represents Cuba's intense and slightly more aggressive music and dance form.
At least as far back as 1943, the word timba was used in lyrics and song titles such as Casino de la Playa's Timba timbero and Perez Prado's Timba timba. It's also the name of a neighborhood in Havana. It came into use as a music genre name, first as timba brava, around 1988. Many, most famously NG La Banda's leader Jose Luis "El Tosco" Cortes, claim credit for being the first to use it to describe the new musical phenomenon.—Moore (2010: v. 5: 11).Read more about this topic: Timba
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)