bourgeoisie

Forms

bourgeoisie f (plural bourgeoisies)^[1] Old French bourgesie (1240) and borgesie.^[2][3][4] Middle French also bourgoisie and bourghesie.^[5]

Etymology

It is formed from French bourgeois + -ie.^[2][3][6] The base goes back to Late Latin burgensis, from burgus (“fortified place”).^[1][7] Medieval Latin had a corresponding burgensia (about 1200), meaning the due paid for the privileges of a town's inhabitants.^[2][8]

Littré compares Occitan borguesia and Italian borghesia.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as bourgesie in 1240, in the cartulary of the church of Saint-Pierre in Lille, as a legal term of medieval law for the status of a burgher.^[2][6][8] In 1247 it meant the due owed for that right.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word kept a feudal and economic meaning, the legal status of a town's inhabitant with its privileges, a use that Swiss French preserves.^[8] The collective sense “the burghers of a town” is found before 1266 in the Assises de Jérusalem^[2][4] and, as “the burghers as a class”, from 1538 in Robert Estienne.^[2][8] It was first opposed to the nobility; from the 17th century it named a non-noble but fairly privileged layer of society.^[8]

In the 18th century the word was defined ideologically as the group that dominated the economy;^[8] in politics it named the middle class in 1792 (André Chénier) and the ruling class in an indictment of Fouquier-Tinville.^[2] A pejorative value appeared in 1839, weaker than that of bourgeois.^[8] With the notion of class, above all after Marx, it was set against prolétariat, and phrases such as petite, moyenne and grande bourgeoisie made the senses precise.^[8] English borrowed bourgeoisie in 1707 for the body of freemen of a French town, and the communist use for the capitalist class is attested from 1886.^[9]

Timeline

• 1240 – Bourgesie “status of a burgher” in a Lille cartulary.^[2]
• 1247 – The due paid for the right of a burgher.^[2]
• before 1266 – La court de la borgesie in the Assises de Jérusalem, for the burghers of a town.^[2][4]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne uses it for the burghers as a class.^[2][8]
• 1707 – English borrows the word.^[9]
• 1792 – André Chénier uses it for the middle class.^[2]
• 1839 – A pejorative value appears.^[8]
• 1886 – In English, the communist sense “the capitalist class” is attested.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) The status of a burgher, with the privileges granted to the inhabitants of a town: droit de bourgeoisie.^[10][2]
2. (Switzerland) The right of citizenship that a person holds in their commune of origin.^[10][2]
3. (history) The burghers as a body, especially as opposed to the nobility.^[10][2]
4. (politics) The ruling class under capitalism, owning the means of production, as opposed to the prolétariat.^[10][2]
5. The middle and upper classes as a whole: la petite bourgeoisie, la grande bourgeoisie, une famille de la bourgeoisie de province.^[10][8]
6. (Switzerland) The body of burghers of a commune.^[10][8]

Related words

• bourgeois
• bourg
• Late Latin burgensis
• English bourgeoisie

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 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 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. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert