bordel

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɔʁ.dɛl/^[1]

Forms

bordel m (plural bordels)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Old French borde (“hut, small house”) + -el, a diminutive with the same sense,^[2][3][4][5] The base noun is from Frankish *borda (“hut of planks”), the neuter plural of *bord (“plank”) taken collectively and become feminine.^[2][3][6][7] The Frankish word is deduced from Gothic 𐌱𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (baurd) (in a compound “footstool”), Old Norse borð, Old English bord and Middle Low German bort “plank, table”.^[2] See also bord.^[2]

Bloch and Wartburg think that the modern word, in use from 1609 in place of bordeau, is borrowed from Old Occitan bordel or from Italian bordello (itself from French or Provençal);^[3] the Grand Robert and the GLLF also mention the Provençal form.^[6][8] Wiktionary instead gives it as inherited through Middle French from Medieval Latin bordellum (“brothel, small hut”).^[1] Cognate with Catalan bordell and Spanish burdel.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found early in the 12th century in Judaeo-French for a hut or small house, and in a 12th-century poem on Thomas Becket: qui veit le bordel son veisin alumé, “who sees his neighbour's hut on fire”.^[6][2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “brothel” appears about 1200 and, Littré says, by Joinville's time the word had been degraded to it: un chevalier qui fu pris au bordel.^[6][7][4] The plural bordiaus gave a 16th-century singular bordeau (1537), which was usual until bordel replaced it in the early 17th century.^[6][3][8] Meanwhile the simple borde kept the sense “cottage, farm” in many dialects of the West and South.^[3][2]

In popular speech it came to mean a place in disorder, and disorder itself; it is also an oath, bordel de Dieu !.^[8][7]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – “Hut, small house”, in Judaeo-French.^[6]
• c. 1200 – “Brothel”.^[6][7]
• 1537 – The form bordeau.^[6]
• 1609 – Bordel replaces bordeau.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (vulgar) A brothel.^[7][1]
2. (familiar) A mess, great disorder; din: quel bordel !, et tout le bordel, and all the rest.^[7][1]

Interjection

1. (vulgar) An oath of annoyance: bordel de merde !^[7][1]

Word family

• bordélique

Related words

• bord
• bordée

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 188a
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse