barricade

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ba.ʁi.kad/^[1]

Forms

barricade f (plural barricades)^[1]

Etymology

It is derived from barrique “cask”, because the first barricades were often made of casks;^[2][3][4][1] Rey sees the suffix -ade as formed on the model of Italian loanwords of the same period such as gabionnade,^[5] while Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert take it through the 16th-century verb barriquer (“to barricade”).^[2][6] The Grand Robert also mentions an influence of barrer “to bar” or of Provençal barricado.^[6] Barrique (1455) was borrowed from southern borrowed from Occitan barrica, formed on the stem of baril;^[2] Robert Estienne recorded it as Gascon in 1549.^[2] The Italian word barricata was borrowed from the French word.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1570, in Monluc's Commentaires.^[3][6] Rey thinks it first meant a row of casks used as an obstacle, and then, from about 1571, any obstacle made by heaping up objects.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Agrippa d'Aubigné in the 16th century describes the barricades of street fighting, sometimes with a ditch dug before and behind.^[7] Since the word stopped being felt as a derivative of barrique, it has been associated with barrer.^[5] By metonymy the plural barricades stands for an uprising, first with allusion to the Fronde of August 1648; hence the names of historical events such as la journée des barricades (1835) and les barricades de juillet for July 1830 (1842).^[5] Figuratively, être de l'autre côté de la barricade is to be in the opposing camp, a phrase Péguy attributed to Clemenceau.^[5][8]

The verb barricader (1588) first meant to close with barricades, then to close firmly (1596), and se barricader to shut oneself in (1611).^[5][2] English formed the verb barricade from the noun in the 1590s.^[9]

Timeline

• 1455 – Barrique “cask” is recorded.^[2]
• 1570 – Barricade appears in Monluc's Commentaires.^[3][6]
• 1588 – Étienne Pasquier uses the verb barricader.^[2][5]
• 1648 – The barricades of the Fronde give the plural the sense “uprising”.^[5]
• 1835 – La journée des barricades is recorded as the name of an event.^[5]
• 1842 – Les barricades de juillet is used of the July Revolution.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A barricade, an obstacle of heaped objects built across a street to block it and give cover in street fighting: dresser des barricades.^[8][4]
2. (plural) An uprising, civil war or revolution: les barricades de mai 68.^[8]
3. Être de l'autre côté de la barricade: to be in the opposing camp.^[8][3]
4. (Switzerland) Monter aux barricades: to step into the breach, to protest.^[4]

Word family

• barricader

Related words

• barrique
• barrer
• barre
• Occitan barrica
• English barricade

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d 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 d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com