bohémien

Forms

bohémien m (plural bohémiens, feminine bohémienne)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French bohème + -ien.^[2][3][1] That noun is from Medieval Latin Bohemus (“inhabitant of Bohemia”), which was then applied to the Romani people who had passed through that country,^[4][5] and the medieval Latin word comes from Boiohaemum, Tacitus' name for the land of the Boiī, a Celtic people.^[5] The adjective “of Bohemia” is formed in the same way on the place name Bohême.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1467, in a letter of remission quoted by Du Cange, for a member of the wandering groups thought to have come from Bohemia.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word took over this sense from bohème, which had meant an inhabitant of Bohemia from 1372 and the Romani from the first half of the 15th century.^[5] Bloch and Wartburg date bohémien to the 14th century and note that the Roma are found in France from 1427,^[4] while the Petit Robert dates the sense “inhabitant of Bohemia” to 1495 and the Romani sense to 1558.^[7]

By extension it named any vagrant or nomad, often with a pejorative tone.^[6][7] Rey notes that it is no longer used in neutral writing about the Roma, now more and more called Roms, and that it remains tied to 19th-century judgments of these communities as strange and dangerous.^[5] The vie de bohème of artists is expressed by bohème, not by bohémien.^[5]

Timeline

• 1372 – Bohème is recorded for an inhabitant of Bohemia.^[5][4]
• 1427 – The Roma are first found in France.^[4]
• 1467 – Bohémien appears for a member of the nomadic groups believed to come from Bohemia.^[2][6]
• 1495 – Recorded for an inhabitant of Bohemia.^[7]
• 1867 – Baudelaire's Mon cœur mis à nu gives the derivative bohémianisme.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A member of the nomadic Romani people; a gypsy, see tzigane, romanichel, gitan.^[7][2][1]
2. (pejorative) A vagrant or nomad;^[6][7] avoir l'air d'un bohémien, to look shabby and dirty.^[6][7]
3. An inhabitant or native of Bohemia.^[2][6]

Adjective

1. Of or from Bohemia: la langue bohémienne.^[6][2][1]
2. Of the nomadic Romani groups.^[2]

Word family

• bohémianisme

Related words

• bohème

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert