baguette

Forms

baguette f (plural baguettes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian bacchetta (“small stick”), first recorded in 1510, its sound influenced by bague.^[2][3][1] The Italian word is a diminutive of bacchio (“stick”), which goes back to Latin baculum (“stick”),^[4][2][5] according to Rey through a form Vulgar Latin *bacculum from which a popular Latin *baccus was taken.^[2] Spanish bagueta comes from the same Italian word.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found, in the 16th century, in the figurative phrase à la baguette “with authority”, as in commander, mener à la baguette;^[2][4] Bloch and Wartburg explain it from the stick that officers carried on duty.^[4] Carloix writes vous commanderez comme il vous plaira et à la baguette si vous voulez, and Montaigne has elles commandent à baguette.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From 1606 the word named a small, thin stick put to many uses.^[2] It became the rod of the diviner (1694, baguette divinatoire 1704) and of fairies and magicians, the baguette magique, with the phrase coup de baguette (1689).^[2][7] In architecture and joinery it named a small rounded or flat moulding (1704).^[2] Other uses are the conductor's baton, drumsticks and the ramrod of a gun.^[8][7]

In the mid-20th century, first in Paris, it came to name a long, thin loaf of bread,^[2] and in the plural the chopsticks of East Asia.^[2][9] English took the word in 1731 for an architectural moulding, and used it for a long-cut diamond from 1923 and for the loaf by 1922.^[10]

Timeline

• 1510 – First record, in Carloix.^[3][8]
• 1606 – Used for a small thin stick of any kind.^[2]
• 1689 – Coup de baguette is recorded.^[2]
• 1694 – Used of the diviner's rod.^[2]
• 1704 – Baguette divinatoire, and the sense “moulding”.^[2]
• 1731 – English borrows it for an architectural ornament.^[10]
• 1928 – The derivative baguettisant “dowser” is recorded.^[2]
• Mid-20th century – The sense “long loaf”, first in Paris.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small, thin, often flexible stick or rod.^[7][9]
2. Mener à la baguette: to rule someone with a firm hand.^[7][1]
3. A wand: baguette magique, d'un coup de baguette magique “as if by magic”, also the dowser's rod, baguette de sourcier.^[7][1]
4. A conductor's baton, and in the plural the drumsticks, baguettes de tambour.^[7][8]
5. (familiar) Cheveux en baguettes de tambour: very straight, stiff hair.^[8][7]
6. A long, thin loaf of bread, about 300 grams.^[9][1]
7. In the plural, chopsticks.^[9][1]
8. The ramrod of a gun, now used to clean the barrel.^[8][1]
9. (architecture) A small rounded or flat moulding.^[9][2]
10. (jewellery) A rectangular cut diamond.^[9]
11. (popular) A leg.^[9]

Word family

• baguettisant

Related words

• bague
• bacille
• Italian bacchetta
• Latin baculum
• English baguette

Usage notes

Passer par les baguettes was a punishment of the armies of the Ancien Régime: the offender was made to pass between two rows of soldiers, who struck him with their ramrods.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com