boisseau

Forms

boisseau m (plural boisseaux)^[1] Old French boistiel (1188–1191), boissel (1198), boissiel (about 1268).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French boissel, refashioned from boistiel.^[4][2][1] Its origin is debated.^[2][4] The generally accepted explanation, Jud's, makes it from Old French boisse (“grain measure, sixth of a bushel”), recorded from 1262 to the 15th century, from a Gallo-Roman *bostia (“what one can hold in the hand”), from Gaulish *bosta (“hollow of the hand”), restored from Irish boss and Breton boz “palm of the hand”.^[2][4][5][6] The forms with ⟨-st-⟩ (Medieval Latin bustellus, boistellus), found in Normandy and Picardy, would then owe their ⟨t⟩ to boiste (“box”), which alone cannot explain the forms with ⟨-ss-⟩.^[2][4][5] The meaning runs parallel to Occitan ponhadièra, a measure named from the contents of a handful.^[2][4]

Guiraud preferred a Romance *buxellus (“vessel of boxwood”), from Latin buxus (“box tree”) and Late Latin buxa (“box of boxwood”), which would regularly have given that Old French word and makes the change of meaning simpler.^[4][7] The Petit Robert and the GLLF give a popular Latin *buxitellum, of the same stem as boîte.^[8][3] Littré set out the earlier proposals of Du Cange, from Medieval Latin buza (“vat”), and of Diez, from bustia (“box”).^[9]

Cognate with Old Occitan boissel.^[5][6] The English word bushel was borrowed from the Old French word in the early 14th century.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

As boistiel it appears about 1188–1191 in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval, as a measure of capacity.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word named an old measure of capacity for grain and other dry goods, the cylindrical vessel that held it, and by metonymy its contents.^[4][2] Its value varied with place and period; when the old measures were brought into line with the metric system it was fixed at about 12.5 litres.^[2][9] The 13th-century Livre des métiers of Boileau already names millers and salt sellers measuring by the boissiel.^[9][3] In Canadian French it survives as a grain measure of 8 gallons (about 36.4 litres).^[4][8][11]

By analogy it named cylindrical objects in several trades: the case in which clay pipes are fired (1694), the conical housing of a tap in which the plug turns (1751) and pipe sections that fit into one another, as in a chimney flue.^[4][2][3] The figurative mettre sous le boisseau “to hide, keep secret” comes from translations of the Gospel and is recorded in Furetière in 1690.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 1188–1191 – Boistiel appears in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval.^[2]
• 1198 – Boissel appears in a charter cited by Du Cange.^[2]
• 1262 – The simple boisse “grain measure” is first recorded.^[2][4]
• c. 1268 – Boissiel is used in Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[3][9]
• 13th century – Boisselée “contents of a bushel” is first recorded.^[5][4]
• early 14th century – English borrows boissel as bushel.^[10]
• 1338 – Boisselier is first recorded.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records mettre sous le boisseau.^[4]
• 1694 – Used in pottery for the case in which pipes are fired.^[2][4]
• 1751 – The Encyclopédie uses it for part of a tap;^[2][4] boissellerie is first recorded.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) An old measure of capacity for grain and other dry goods, about 12.5 litres; the cylindrical vessel used for this measure, and its contents: un boisseau d'avoine.^[2][8][3]
2. (Canada) A measure of 8 gallons, about 36.4 litres; a bushel.^[8][4]
3. (figurative) Mettre sous le boisseau (also with tenir, garder): to hide something, keep it secret.^[8][4][3]
4. (technical) A pipe section that fits into another: boisseau de cheminée.^[8][3]
5. (plumbing) The conical body of a tap in which the plug turns: robinet à boisseau.^[4][2]

Word family

• boisselée
• boisselier
• boissellerie

Related words

• boîte
• English bushel

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