bourguignon

Forms

bourguignon (feminine bourguignonne, masculine plural bourguignons, feminine plural bourguignonnes)^[1] Old French bourgengon (second half of the 12th century), Middle French borgoignon (1476), then borguignon and bourguignon (1489).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French bourgengon, inherited from Latin Burgundiō (“a Burgundian”), through its accusative Burgundiōnem.^[2][4][3] The Latin singular is found at the end of the 5th century in Sidonius Apollinaris, the plural already in Pliny.^[2] Rey says the name of the people came through Germanic from an Indo-European root thought to mean “tall”.^[3]

The change from Middle French borgoignon to borguignon and the modern form is explained by dissimilation of the first /o/ to /e/, after which this pretonic /e/ closed to /i/ before the following /ɲ/.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the second half of the 12th century, in Aiol et Mirabel, in parler bourgengon “to speak Burgundian”: from its first uses it referred to the regional speech of Burgundy.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides its ethnic and geographical senses, the word took on among sailors the sense “floating block of ice” (1752), which Rey calls unexplained;^[3][2] the TLFi suggests a comparison with Burgundian vine rows, spaced wide enough for a plough, which the ice floes recall once a ship has passed.^[2] In slang it meant “the sun” (1821), probably from the grape harvesters' usage.^[3]

In cooking, bœuf bourguignon, beef cooked in a red-wine sauce, is recorded from 1866.^[2][5][3] A variant with another suffix gave the noun bourguignote (about 1460), a light crested helmet first used by the Dukes of Burgundy.^[3]

Timeline

• 1150–1200 – Parler bourgengon in Aiol et Mirabel.^[2]
• c. 1460 – The variant bourguignote names a helmet.^[3]
• 1476 – Molinet writes borgoignon.^[2]
• 1489 – Molinet writes bourguignon.^[2]
• 1752 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the sailors' sense “floating ice”.^[2]
• 1821 – Slang bourguignon “the sun”.^[3]
• 1866 – Bœuf bourguignon appears in the Larousse.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or from Burgundy or its people.^[5][2]
2. À la bourguignonne: in the Burgundian manner.^[2]
3. (viticulture) Bouillie bourguignonne: a copper sulphate mixture sprayed on vines.^[2]

Noun

1. Bourguignon, Bourguignonne: a native or inhabitant of Burgundy.^[5][1]
2. The dialect of the langue d'oïl spoken in Burgundy.^[6][3]
3. Bœuf bourguignon, or simply bourguignon: beef stewed in red wine with onions.^[5][7]
4. (nautical) A small block of floating ice broken off an iceberg or ice shelf.^[6][8]
5. (slang, dated) The sun.^[3]

Word family

• bourguignote

Related words

• Bourgogne
• burgonde

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
7. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette