barrique

Forms

barrique f (plural barriques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Occitan barrica, the word of south-western Occitan (Gascon), which is recorded in Old Provençal only in 1498.^[2][3][4][5] The Occitan word goes back to a Gallo-Romance type Vulgar Latin *barrica, formed on the stem of barre and baril; according to the TLFi, which follows Coromines, the suffix -ica could only have been kept in Gascon.^[2][3] Medieval Latin barriqua is found in 1476, probably in the Gers.^[2][3] In 1549 Robert Estienne still listed the word as a word of Aquitaine (Gascony).^[2][4][3]

Modern Occitan still has this form, and Gascon and Béarnais have the same form as French.^[2][3] Littré compares Portuguese barrica.^[6] Wiktionary traces the Vulgar Latin form further to a Gaulish word for a cask, which the French dictionaries do not mention.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, from 1455, is in the accounts of the queen's household: barriques of anchovies carried from Montpellier to Bourges, in the sense of a large cask.^[2][7] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has the word for a barrel from about 1433.^[8]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense of a large cask, whose capacity varies by region, used to ship wine, oil, spirits and dry goods; by metonymy it also names the cask's contents as a measure.^[2][3][7] Bloch and Wartburg note that it has become very common in the Gallo-Romance dialects.^[4]

From the 16th century casks piled up as an obstacle gave the derivative barricade (1570), probably through a verb barriquer “to barricade”.^[4][3] In familiar French plein comme une barrique is said of someone who has eaten or drunk too much, sometimes altered to comme une bourrique;^[3][7] the word is also used of a very fat person.^[7][1]

Timeline

• 1455 – First record in French, in the royal household accounts.^[2][4]
• 1476 – Medieval Latin barriqua appears in an inventory from the south-west.^[2]
• 1498 – The Occitan word barriqua is first recorded.^[2][3]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne lists it as a word of Aquitaine.^[2][3]
• 1570 – The derivative barricade is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large wooden cask or barrel, usually holding about 200 to 250 litres, used to transport and store wine and other liquids: mettre le cidre en barrique.^[9][7][10]
2. The contents of such a cask, or its capacity as a measure.^[2][9]
3. (familiar) Plein comme une barrique, rond comme une barrique: having eaten or drunk far too much, drunk.^[9][10][7]
4. (familiar) A very fat person;^[7][9] gros comme une barrique “very fat”.^[7][9]

Word family

• barricade

Related words

• baril
• barre

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)