Rebonita or bonita?

Question

It's in a song called Malagueña by a Cuban composer. At first I thought it was a typo - Malagueña de bonita - but it's in the sheet music as Malagueña rebonita. Is rebonita just another way to say bonita, or is there more to it than that? It's not in any dictionaries.

Answer 1

Adding re or requete to words just means "really."

So this is similar to saying "muy bonita" or "bonitísima."

i didn't know this. thank you. - kiersten11, Jul 1, 2012

you're welcome : ) - unMica, Jul 1, 2012

I did not know it either. - iana01, Jul 1, 2012

muchísimas gracias, unMica. :) - iana01, Jul 1, 2012

de nada! - unMica, Jul 1, 2012

Thank you unMica! - 0095ca4c, Jul 1, 2012

gracias ... I was blown away by the song and just had to translate it. Redificil! - papagrande, Jul 1, 2012

you're welcome everyone : ) - unMica, Jul 1, 2012

Answer 2

Yes unMica is right I think it's especially common in Argentina and perhaps Mexico with sayings like - El examen fue redifícil

This from RAE:

1. pref. Significa 'repetición'. Reconstruir.
2. pref. Significa 'movimiento hacia atrás'. Refluir.
3. pref. Denota 'intensificación'. Recargar.
4. pref. Indica 'oposición' o 'resistencia'. Rechazar. Repugnar. Significa 'negación' o 'inversión del significado simple'. Reprobar. Con adjetivos o adverbios, puede reforzarse el valor de intensificación añadiendo a re- las sílabas -te o -quete. Retebueno. Requetebién.

Gracias KG, it helps to confirm with more responses. I assume it's a common practice in Cuba since I found the word in a Cuban song. - papagrande, Jul 1, 2012

you're welcome, ah good to know, perhaps it's quite common in a lot of Latin America, I wonder if it's used in Spain - Kiwi-Girl, Jul 2, 2012