boulevard

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bul.vaʁ/^[1]

Forms

boulevard m (plural boulevards)^[1] Older forms: bolevers (before 1365), bollewerc (1425), bollevart (1429), boulevars (15th century), bolvert (1509); boulevard from 1559, though boulevart was still allowed in the 18th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Middle Dutch bolwerc (“bulwark, bastion”) rather than the corresponding Middle High German bolwërc, though it may have come by both routes;^[2][3][4][5] the early records are from Walloon and Picard texts.^[2][3] It is a compound of a word for “plank, beam” and werc (“work”), so properly a work of planks and beams.^[3][6] The ending was later assimilated to the suffix -ard, and the vowel to boule.^[2][3]

The same Germanic compound gave English bulwark and German Bollwerk;^[1][3] from French come Italian baluardo and Spanish baluarte.^[4][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found before 1365 as bolevers, in the chronicle of Jean le Bel of Liège, for a defensive earthwork in front of a rampart.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1509 it was also used figuratively for any protection or safeguard.^[2][3] With new methods of warfare the military sense grew old in the 17th and 18th centuries,^[3][2] and the word passed to the tree-lined promenade laid out where old ramparts had stood: Boiste records this in 1803.^[2][3] It then came to mean any broad city street.^[3][8]

In Paris les Boulevards were the haunt of artists and pleasure-seekers (Stendhal, before 1842), and the popular theatres on them gave théâtre de boulevard (1867), light comedy.^[2][8] The boulevardier is a man about town.^[4][1]

Timeline

• before 1365 – Bolevers, a defensive work.^[2][9]
• 1425 – Bollewerc.^[2]
• 1509 – Figurative “protection”.^[2][3]
• 1559 – The spelling boulevard in Amyot.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière considers the word military only.^[2]
• 1803 – A tree-lined walk around a town.^[2][3]
• 1867 – Théâtres des boulevards.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A boulevard, a broad, often tree-lined city street.^[8][10]
2. A wide road round a town on the site of former ramparts.^[8][10]
3. Théâtre de boulevard: light popular comedy.^[8]
4. (historical) A bulwark, an earthwork in front of a fortification;^[2] (figurative) a defence.^[6][2]

Word family

• boulevardier

Related words

• English boulevard
• English bulwark

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 178a
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)