bourgeon

Forms

bourgeon m (plural bourgeons)^[1] Old French burjon and borjon;^[2][3][1] bourgeon from the 14th century.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French burjon, inherited from Vulgar Latin *burriōnem, the accusative of *burriō, a derivative of Late Latin burra (“flock, wool stuffing”), the source of bourre.^[3][4][5][6] Ménage explained the name by the downy look of buds, which have “something hairy about them, close to stuffing”; the use of the same word for the down on young buds and similar senses in the dialects support this.^[3][5][6] The /j/ of the Latin form gave /ʒ/, as in diurnum, whence jour.^[5] The word is only Gallo-Romance.^[6]

Littré still thought the origin uncertain: Diez had proposed a Germanic source, and others a metathesis of brout.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, burjon in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie (1160), is already used figuratively: Bon burjon de bone raïz “a good bud from a good root”.^[3][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word names the growth on a stem or branch that holds the future shoots, leaves and flowers, and since 1798 in particular the new shoot of the vine.^[5][3] By likeness to bouton, it meant a pimple on the face from about 1270, in Rutebeuf; this sense is now archaic or felt as a jocular metaphor.^[3][5]

Figuratively it was used of a very inexperienced person (1565) and later of a situation in its first stage.^[3][5] Anatomy took it up in bourgeons charnus (1824), the granulations on a healing wound, and later bourgeon gustatif, a taste bud.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1160 – Burjon in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[3]
• c. 1270 – Rutebeuf uses it for a pimple on the face.^[3]
• 14th century – The form bourgeon in the Ménagier de Paris.^[2]
• 1565 – Used figuratively for an inexperienced person.^[3][5]
• 1798 – The Académie records the sense “new shoot of the vine”.^[3]
• 1824 – Bourgeons charnus in surgery.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A bud, the growth on a stem or branch from which shoots, leaves or flowers develop: bourgeon terminal, bourgeon axillaire.^[8][3][7]
2. A new shoot of the vine.^[3][2]
3. (archaic) A pimple on the face.^[8][5]
4. (biology) In asexual reproduction, an outgrowth that becomes a new individual.^[7]
5. (anatomy) Bourgeon charnu: a granulation on a healing wound;^[3][5][2] bourgeon gustatif: a taste bud.^[3][5][2]

Word family

• bourgeonner
• ébourgeonner
• bourgeonnement

Related words

• bourre
• bureau

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 645b
5. ^ 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
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 c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert