How to Pronounce “Bona Fides”: “BOHN-uh FYE-deez” or “BOHN-uh fydez”?

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Marianne. I’m calling from Valdosta, Georgia.

Hi, Marianne.

Hi.

Welcome to the show.

Yeah, what would you like to talk with us about?

Well, I want to know the proper way to pronounce the word spelled B-O-N-A-F-I-D-E-S. I’m not sure if the B-O-N is pronounced bone or bun, and I’m not sure if the F-I-D-E-S is pronounced fides, fides, or one-syllable fides.

Oh boy. Marianne, where have you run across this expression spelled B-O-N-A-F-I-D-E-S?

I read every night before I go to sleep and I ran across it in a book and it’s one of those words that I have no trouble reading, but if I try to say it, it sticks in my throat because no way I tried to pronounce it sounded correct. And I looked it up and listened to several pronunciations, and I got even more confused because there seemed to be multiple so-called acceptable ways to pronounce this term. And I thought, I have to take a stand on this, kind of like when you take a stand on which way you’re going to put the toilet paper on the toilet paper holder, either over or under. I had to find out the best way to pronounce it. So I’m prevailing upon you to solve this for me.

Oh, boy. Well, the answer is over, right? Over. For the toilet paper?

Of course. Right. Yeah.

Thank you.

And this term means something like authentic credentials, right? Isn’t that the sense that you have when you’re reading and you come across this expression? Authentic credentials.

Okay.

I tell you, Marianne, I have always pronounced it bona fides, bona fides. But, you know, there are some authorities who have sneered at that pronunciation, and they say it should be bona fides. But anyway, bona fides and bona fides are usually the pronunciations heard in the United States. It was borrowed intact from Latin, and it’s spelled the same way, B-O-N-A, and then a separate word, F-I-D-E-S. And in Latin, you pronounce it bona fides, and that literally means good faith. So the fides means faith. It’s like our word fidelity. And the bona means good. It’s like our word bonus. So bona fides in Latin. And somebody who’s trying to show off that they’ve had a little Latin may say bona fides. But, you know, that’s pretentious. I mean, we’re speaking English and not Latin. And if we’re going to be that strict about pronouncing words from Latin, then we shouldn’t be talking about quoting somebody verbatim. Because in Latin, it’s where bottom. And we shouldn’t be talking about things ad infinitum, because in Latin it would be ad infinitum.

And Marianne, the other thing that complicates this is the fact that the fides, in Latin bona fides, is actually one of those rare Latin nouns that end in S, but they’re actually singular. They’re not that many of those. That means that when this term was adopted whole into English in the 17th century, people might say something like, that person’s bona fides is impeccable, meaning their good faith or their sincerity is impeccable. And it was only later that people started saying that person’s bona fides or that person’s bona fides are impeccable. So I come down on the side of just saying, find a different word, credentials, good faith, sincerity, something like that.

Well, I like that recommendation. That simplifies my life tremendously. However, I am going to practice saying bona fides, so if I am forced to say it in a conversation, I will know with certainty the way I’m supposed to pronounce it. And I like the clean contemporary sound of bona fides instead of the Latin, which, as you say, sounds a little pretentious.

Exactly. So bona fides or bona fides. Or, as you suggested earlier, avoid using it and say something like good faith or credibility or credentials or authenticity.

Right.

I like that.

Bye, Marianne. Take care. Be well.

Thank you, Marianne.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

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