Etymologically
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barricade

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 02:43. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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
  • 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