bourse

Forms

bourse f (plural bourses)^[1] Old French borse, then bourse from the early 13th century;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also had burs and bource.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French borse, inherited from Late Latin bursa (“hide, leather”).^[2][4][5] Late Latin had both byrsa and the spelling with ⟨u⟩ for leather from the end of the 4th century, and Medieval Latin used the word for a leather bag (about 750) and especially a bag for money.^[2][6] The Latin word was taken from Ancient Greek βύρσα (búrsa, “hide, skin of an animal, leather bottle”), a narrower word than δέρμα (dérma);^[2][4] Rey suggests that it was itself a dialect word or a fairly late technical borrowing in Greek.^[2][4]

Cognate with Italian borsa, Occitan borsa, Catalan borsa, Spanish bolsa and Portuguese bolsa.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as borses in the Charroi de Nîmes (about 1150), for small bags carried on a journey.^[9][4][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense settled before the 15th century on a small round bag for coins.^[2] The purse itself has given way to the porte-monnaie, but it lives on in phrases such as sans bourse délier “without paying” (as borse deslier, 1160–1185), bourse commune (1646) and the robber's la bourse ou la vie “your money or your life”.^[2] By metonymy it came to mean the money one has, and since 1399 a grant paid to a student, the source of boursier “scholarship holder” (1430).^[2][6] In anatomy it named the scrotum (about 1278) and in botany a sac-shaped membrane, as in bourse à pasteur “shepherd's purse” (about 1350); a pocket-shaped fishing net is recorded in 1409.^[2] In Quebec French bourse is the ordinary word for a handbag.^[2][10]

The financial sense, “exchange”, is recorded from 1549, in an edict of Henry II for the merchants of Toulouse, and in 1575 for the Antwerp exchange; it prevailed only in the 18th century, after competing with change at Lyon and place at Paris.^[6][2] Its origin is disputed.^[2][4] Lodovico Guicciardini's description of the Low Countries (1567) says the Antwerp exchange was modelled on that of Bruges, which took its name from a square with the house, adorned with three purses, of a noble family called Van der Burse (Italian della Borsa), where Venetian merchants lodged from the 14th century and traders met from about 1400.^[6][2] Others derive it from bourse “money bag” in phrases such as monoie courant en bourse (1339), a rendering of the Brabant Latin moneta in bursa currens (1290) “money current at the time of payment”;^[6][2] the Grand Robert gives the Bruges explanation, with influence of bourse “purse”, and notes that Pierre Guiraud rejected it in favour of the phrase.^[4] Either way the word goes back to bourse “purse”, and the idea of ready money favoured the new sense.^[2] English took burse in the 1550s and bourse in the 1590s for a merchants' meeting place.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – Borses appears in the Charroi de Nîmes.^[9][4]
• 1160–1185 – Borse deslier, the ancestor of sans bourse délier, is recorded.^[2]
• Early 13th century – The spelling bourse appears.^[2]
• c. 1278 – It names the scrotum.^[2]
• 1339 – Monoie courant en bourse “money current at payment”.^[6][2]
• 1399 – First recorded for a grant paid to a student.^[2]
• 1549 – Bourse “exchange” in an edict of Henry II for the merchants of Toulouse.^[6][4]
• 1550s – English borrows burse, later (1590s) bourse.^[11]
• 1646 – Bourse commune is recorded.^[2]
• 1677 – Recorded for a public place where merchants meet for business.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A small purse for coins, closed with a drawstring.^[10][12][13]
2. The money one has, one's resources: des prix pour toutes les bourses.^[10][12]
3. Bourse d'études: a scholarship or study grant: Elle a obtenu une bourse pour Lyon.^[10][1]
4. (anatomy, usually plural) The scrotum.^[10][1]
5. (Quebec, familiar) A handbag.^[10][2]
6. (often capitalised) A stock exchange or commodity exchange, and the building where it meets: la Bourse de Paris.^[10][1]
7. The dealings on the stock exchange: jouer en Bourse.^[10]

Word family

• boursicaut
• boursicoter
• boursier
• boursette
• débourser
• rembourser

Related words

• bursaire
• Latin bursa
• English bourse

Usage notes

Set phrases with the coin purse include tenir les cordons de la bourse “to hold the purse strings”, avoir la bourse plate “to be short of money” and sans bourse délier “without spending anything”.^[10][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 s t u v w x Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 667b
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ 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