Etymologically
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boulot

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boulot1 plump

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bu.lo/[1]

Forms

boulot (feminine boulotte)[2]

Etymology

The adjective “plump” is from French boule + -ot.[3][4][5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1830, in a supplement to the memoirs of Vidocq, meaning “short and chubby”.[3]

Semantic evolution

Bescherelle records it in 1845, and Littré marks it as popular.[2][6] As a noun it named an oblong four-pound loaf, pain boulot; in popular use du boulot (1879) also meant food, the sense of the verb boulotter “to eat”.[2][5][7]

Timeline

  • c. 1830 – “Short and chubby”.[3]
  • 1845 – In Bescherelle's dictionary.[2]
  • 1879 – Boulot “food”.[5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (familiar) Short and plump, chubby: une femme boulotte.[5][8]

Noun

  1. Une boulotte: a plump little woman.[5][6]
  2. (dated) An oblong loaf, pain boulot.[2][9]

boulot2 work

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bu.lo/[1]
  • IPA: /bu.lɔ/[1]

Forms

boulot m (plural boulots)[1] First written bouleau (1881), then boulot (1892).[10]

Etymology

The noun “work” is of uncertain origin.[10][2] The Robert dictionaries and Wiktionary take it as a back-formation from boulotter, in its old sense “to get along, jog along”, a diminutive of bouler (“to roll”), Bloch and Wartburg say the development is not clear.[4][5][1][7] Rey thinks the earliest attested sense, “action, fight” (1881), points rather to boule and “bouler”; he finds the derivation from the tree bouleau, whose wood is hard to work, unfounded, though a foresters' phrase “abattre du bouleau” cannot be ruled out.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In slang, written bouleau, it first meant a fight (1881).[10][4]

Semantic evolution

About 1900 it spread in familiar speech as “work, job, trade”, probably under the influence of boulotter, which had meant “to work” (1844) before being replaced by boulonner.[10][4] About 1920 slang used it for a worker.[10] Boulot boulot, of someone who thinks only of work, is recorded in 1931.[11][10] Pierre Béarn's 1951 poem gave the phrase métro, boulot, dodo for the daily grind.[1]

Timeline

  • 1881 – Bouleau “fight”.[10]
  • 1892 – The spelling boulot.[10]
  • 1900 – “Work”.[4][5]
  • c. 1920 – “A worker”.[10]
  • 1931 – Boulot boulot.[11]
  • 1951 – Métro, boulot, dodo, Pierre Béarn.[1]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (familiar) work: aller au boulot, du bon boulot.[5][1]
  2. (familiar) A job: chercher du boulot, un petit boulot.[1][5]
  3. Métro, boulot, dodo: the daily grind.[1]

Adjective

  1. (familiar) Boulot boulot: hard-working, always thinking of work.[5][9]
  • boule
  • boulotter
  • bouler
  • boulonner

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF