bastringue

Forms

bastringue m (plural bastringues)^[1]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.^[2][3][4] The ending ⟨-ingue⟩ suggests a Germanic source.^[2][5][6] Meyer-Lübke derived it from the Dutch phrase bas drinken (“to drink heavily”), an explanation the Petit Robert and the Grand Robert still mention as possible;^[7][8][9] the TLFi and Rey object that this phrase is found in none of the large Dutch or dialect dictionaries, so that it was never in popular use even if it existed.^[2][5]

Bloch and Wartburg suggested a joking extension of the name of a machine for printing cloth with cylinders built in 1799 by Widmer, the nephew of the cloth manufacturer Oberkampf at Jouy-en-Josas, an idea Rey attributes to Ferdinand Brunot.^[6][5] The TLFi, Rey and the Grand Robert object that the dance is recorded first, and that the existing word for a noisy dance was more likely given to the noisy new machine.^[2][5][9] Pierre Guiraud's proposal, a variant of bastingue “wooden barricade” (the source of bastingage), requires shifts of meaning that are not attested.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1794 as the name of a popular contredanse tune: according to Larousse's 19th-century dictionary, the tune Bastringue des départements was composed for the dances held round the scaffold in January 1794, a year after the execution of Louis XVI.^[2][9][5]

Semantic evolution

From the noisy tune the word passed by metonymy to the popular dance itself, and to a dance hall or tavern where people danced: aller au bastringue is found in a song of 1800.^[2][5][10] Chateaubriand describes the bastringues of the Champs-Élysées, with their violins, horns, clarinets and drums.^[2][11] From the idea of noise came the senses “din, racket” and “quarrel” (1866).^[2][5]

In 1799 the workers of the Jouy cloth works gave the name, in the feminine, to their new cylinder printing machine; the verb bastringuer meant “to frequent dance halls” (1805), and the participle bastringué was used of cloth printed on that machine (1809).^[2][5] In slang it named a fine file (1821), and by 1900 a heap of belongings and household goods; the idea of a disorderly jumble then won out, partly overlapping with bordel.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1794 – The tune Bastringue des départements is composed.^[2]
• 1799 – Workers at Jouy give the name to a cylinder machine for printing cloth.^[2][5][9]
• 1800 – Aller au bastringue “go to the dance” appears in a song.^[2][10]
• 1805 – The verb bastringuer “to frequent dance halls” is recorded.^[5]
• 1821 – Slang use for a fine file.^[2]
• 1866 – Used for a quarrel and for a din.^[2][10]
• 1900 – Slang use for one's belongings.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (familiar) A popular dance or dance hall, a guinguette with dancing.^{[8][2][11][3]}
2. (familiar) A noisy band;^[8] piano bastringue, a piano deliberately left out of tune, as in a bar.^[8]
3. (familiar) A loud and confused noise, a racket: Arrêtez un peu ce bastringue !^[8][2][1]
4. (familiar) One's things, gear, belongings; a heap of odds and ends: Il a laissé tout son bastringue dans l'entrée.^[8][2][4]
5. (historical, technical) A machine for printing cloth with cylinders.^[2][5]

Word family

• bastringuer

Usage notes

In the sense of the printing machine the word was feminine; it is otherwise masculine.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 q r s t 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse