baccalauréat

Forms

baccalauréat m (plural baccalauréats)^[1] Earlier spellings bacalareat (1623) and bacalaureat (1624); baccalauréat from 1690.^[2][3] Richelet has bacaloréat in 1680.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin baccalaureātus (“degree of bachelor”), found in English documents about 1522 and 1549, from baccalaureus, an alteration of baccalārius (“bachelor”), the source of bachelier.^[2][5][6] The alteration was made to resemble Latin bacca (“berry”) laurea (“of laurel”), “laurel berry”.^[6][3][5][1]

Rey thinks the word probably arose from a crossing of bacchalariātus (1424), a lower rank among the canons of a choir, with the altered form named above, and that this playful alteration was made in the universities under the influence of laureō (“to crown with laurel”) (see lauréat).^[2] He finds the “laurel berry” explanation, first put forward by the Italian jurist Alciato (died 1550), unnecessary, since that altered form is recorded from the first half of the 15th century for a young man aspiring to knighthood.^[2] Littré called the word a strange barbarism, an alteration of Late Latin bachalariatus.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first meant the degree of bachelor, the lowest degree given by the universities in theology, medicine, civil law and canon law.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense dates from 1808, when a degree was created in France for those who passed the examinations at the end of secondary school; this sense in turn changed the meaning of bachelier.^[2] The word then named the examination itself as well as the degree.^[8][9] In Canada it names a first-cycle university degree that gives access to the master's.^[2][1] The clipping bac appeared in schoolboy slang in 1880, and in the 1990s bac plus followed by a number of years came to describe a person's level of university studies.^[2]

Timeline

• 1623 – First recorded as bacalareat.^[2]
• 1680 – Richelet records it.^[9][4]
• 1690 – The spelling baccalauréat appears.^[2][3]
• 1808 – The French secondary-school degree is created.^[2]
• 1880 – The clipping bac appears in schoolboy slang.^[2]
• 1990s – Bac plus with a number of years comes into use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The degree given after the examinations at the end of secondary school, which makes the holder a bachelier, and those examinations: passer le baccalauréat.^[3][8]
2. (formerly) A first university degree in a faculty: baccalauréat en droit.^[3][8]
3. (Canada) A bachelor's degree.^[1][2]

Related words

• bachelier
• bac
• bachot
• lauréat

Usage notes

In everyday speech it is shortened to bac, or familiarly bachot.^[1][9][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse