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balayer

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Etymology and origin of the French word balayer

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1204 More words from the 13th century
Ultimate origin
Gaulish *banatlo

Pronunciation

Forms

balayer[1] Old French balaier (1204), baloiier (about 1275), Middle French balleyer (1393) and balier; the spelling balayer dates from 1611.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French balai (“broom”) + -er,[3][4][5][1] or, as Pierre Guiraud proposed, it is a frequentative of baller “to shake, toss”.[6][2] The Old French forms in ⟨-oier⟩ and ⟨-ier⟩ were probably influenced by the old verb balier or baloier “to flutter, wave”, from Latin ballō (“to dance”),[2][5] and Littré already noted how alike the forms of both senses were.[7]

The noun balai is from Gaulish *banatlo (“broom (plant)”)[8] (Bloch and Wartburg give *banallo, with a transposition of sounds), compare Welsh banadl (“broom”) and Breton benal.[5] It first named the broom plant, used for sweeping.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found as balaier in 1204 and means “to clean with a broom” from about 1275;[2] a 13th-century romance quoted by Littré has Les maisons firent baloier, Deseure et dessous nettoier “they had the houses swept, cleaned above and below”.[7] The GLLF and the Grand Robert date baloier to 1280, in Beaumanoir.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

From the 13th century it was also said of the wind and the sea, which sweep everything before them.[2] Later it was used without any idea of force for an optical instrument passing over a field of view (1788) and a beam of light passing over something (1796).[2] Gunfire sweeping a place is recorded from 1800.[9][7]

The sense “to drive away, make disappear”, first metaphorical and then figurative, dates from the early 19th century.[2] The figurative balayer devant sa porte means putting one's own affairs in order before meddling in other people's.[4][1]

Timeline

  • 1204 – First recorded as balaier.[2]
  • c. 1275 – Baloiier “to clean with a broom”.[2]
  • 1280 – Beaumanoir uses baloier.[3][6]
  • 13th century – Said of the wind and the sea.[2]
  • 13th century – The derivative balaieor, now balayeur, appears.[2][5]
  • 1387 – Balieures, now balayure, is recorded.[2][5]
  • 1611 – The spelling balayer appears.[2]
  • 1788 – Used of an optical instrument scanning a field.[2]
  • 1800 – Used of gunfire sweeping a place.[9]
  • Early 19th century – The figurative sense “to drive away, make disappear”.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To sweep away (dust, rubbish, snow) with a broom; used absolutely, to sweep a place: Il faut balayer la cuisine avant de partir.[4][10]
  2. Balayer devant sa porte: to put one's own house in order before criticizing others.[4][1]
  3. To carry along or away, as the wind or a wave does: Le vent balaye les feuilles mortes.[4][3]
  4. (figurative) To sweep aside, get rid of, make disappear (objections, enemies, prejudices).[4][3][1]
  5. To pass over a surface or area, as a beam of light, a gaze or an instrument does; to scan.[2][10]
  6. (military) To rake with gunfire.[1][7]
  7. Of a long garment, to drag along the ground.[7][1]

Word family

  • balayage
  • balayeur
  • balayure
  • balai
  • baller

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 232b
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b 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

Related etymologies

  • char · also from Gaulish
  • borne · also from Gaulish
  • souche · also from Gaulish
  • ruche · also from Gaulish
  • berle · also from Gaulish
  • noue · also from Gaulish
  • braie · also from Gaulish
  • boue · also from Gaulish
Cite this entry

“Balayer.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/balayer. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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