boue

Forms

boue f (plural boues)^[1] Old French boe, then boue from the late 12th century.^[2][3] Picard baue and beue.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Gaulish *bawā (“dirt, filth”), a Gaulish form deduced from Welsh baw (“dirt, mire”).^[2][3][1][5] Bloch and Wartburg give this Celtic origin as probable and call it a word of northern France.^[6] The /w/ kept its value as a semivowel, probably because the syllables were divided as ⟨bau-a⟩, and combined with the /a/ to give /o/, later /u/ before a vowel.^[2]

Rey sees no etymological link with bourbe.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears as boe in the Livre des Rois (about 1170), meaning “mud” of the street: si cume la boe de la strae.^[4][7][3] The Anglo-Norman Dictionary has a record from 1121–1135,^[8] and the derivative embouer (about 1121) shows that the word is older.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Pejorative figurative uses appear in Old French about 1275,^[2] as in the Roman de la Rose, where Fortune throws men from her wheel into the mud.^[4] They gave phrases such as se vautrer dans la boue, traîner quelqu'un dans la boue “to slander” and tirer quelqu'un de la boue “to raise from misery”.^[2][9]

By extension the word named soaked ground (1539), with uses in geology and medicine (bains de boue, 1835).^[2] By analogy it named thick residues: thick pus in old medicine (16th century, Ambroise Paré) and the ink deposit at the bottom of an inkwell (1835).^[2][4] The plural boues meant refuse, a sense behind boueur and éboueur and kept today in technical use.^[2]

Timeline

• 1121–1135 – First record in Anglo-Norman.^[8]
• c. 1121 – The derivative enboer appears.^[2]
• c. 1170 – Boe in the Livre des Rois.^[3][7]
• Late 12th century – The form boue appears.^[2]
• c. 1200 – The adjective boueux is recorded.^[6]
• c. 1275 – First figurative, pejorative uses.^[2]
• 16th century – Used for thick pus in medicine.^[2]
• 1539 – It names soaked ground.^[2]
• 1563 – Boueur “street sweeper” appears.^[6][2]
• 1835 – Bains de boue and the sense “ink deposit” are recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. mud: earth or dust soaked with water on the ground, in streets and roads.^[10][11][9]
2. (figurative) Moral filth or degradation: traîner quelqu'un dans la boue “to drag someone through the mud”, se vautrer dans la boue.^[10][9]
3. (literary) A state of abjection or deep misery: tirer quelqu'un de la boue.^[11][9]
4. Wet earth or silt; in geology, a fine water-laden deposit, as on the ocean floor.^[10]
5. A thick sediment of any substance, such as the deposit at the bottom of a vat.^[11][2]
6. (drilling) Drilling mud, a mixture injected to carry away cuttings and cool the bit.^[11]
7. (familiar) Tas de boue: an old car in bad condition.^[10]

Word family

• boueur
• boueux
• embouer
• éboueur
• bouette

Related words

• fange

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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. 1, 302a
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d 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
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)