Etymologically
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boulevard

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 17:16. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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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

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)