boutique

Forms

boutique f (plural boutiques)^[1] Old French bouticle (1242, still in popular use in the 16th century), botique (mid-13th century; 1377); boutique from the mid-14th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Old Occitan botica (1314), from Ancient Greek ἀποθήκη (apothḗkē, “storehouse, magazine”), whence Latin apothēca;^{[2][4][5][3][6]} the ⟨i⟩ reflects the late Greek pronunciation of ⟨η⟩.^[2][4] Wiktionary takes the word through Latin.^[1] The Greek noun is derived from ἀποτίθημι (apotíthēmi, “to put away, store”), from ἀπό (apó, “away from”) and τίθημι (títhēmi, “to put”).^[2][7] Etymonline notes that the Latin word inherited directly would have given a very different French word.^[8] Littré thought the word came from Italy, since the initial ⟨a⟩ is lost.^[7]

The ⟨l⟩ of bouticle is the reinforcing ⟨l⟩ that Old and Middle French often put between a stressed vowel and final ⟨-e⟩ in borrowed words, as in cronikle for chronique.^[2] Spanish botica (“apothecary's shop”) has the same origin, while Italian bottega (“shop”) and Spanish bodega (“cellar”) came by another route.^[2][4] Related to apothicaire.^[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as bouticle in 1242, for the place where a merchant set out and sold his goods, from a simple trestle stall to a shop on the ground floor of a house;^[2] the Petit Robert glosses its first record (1241) as “workshop”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

By extension it named places where various trades were carried on, from a house of prostitution (1395) to an artist's studio and a doctor's or notary's premises; these senses have gone.^[2] An artisan's workshop was also called a boutique (16th century).^[2] Familiar uses for “house, workplace” go back to before 1575.^[2] The fishing sense, a perforated box kept under water to hold live fish (1309), may owe something to Old French boute (“cask”).^[2]

The modern sense was more or less settled in the 17th century; in the 19th, competition from magasin gave it humble and old-fashioned overtones, but the great couturiers' luxury shops later gave it positive ones.^[2] The TLFi dates this fashion sense to 1951.^[10] English borrowed the word for a small shop (1767) and a fashionable clothes shop (1950).^[8] Derivatives are boutiquier (1596, earlier bouticlier, 1414) and arrière-boutique (1508).^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1242 – Bouticle.^[2]
• 1309 – A fish box.^[2]
• c. 1350 – Botique.^[4]
• 1395 – A house of prostitution.^[2]
• 1414 – Bouticlier, later boutiquier.^[2]
• 1508 – Arrière-boutique.^[4]
• 1767 – English boutique “small shop”.^[8]
• 1951 – A couturier's or luxury shop.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shop, a small retail business, usually on a ground floor: tenir boutique, ouvrir boutique, fermer boutique.^[9][3]
2. (figurative) Plier boutique, fermer boutique: to give something up.^[9]
3. A fashion designer's shop; a small shop selling stylish goods, a boutique.^[9][2]
4. The goods in a shop, (familiar) toute la boutique, the whole lot.^[3][2]
5. (familiar) One's workplace, parler boutique, to talk shop.^[2]
6. (fishing) A perforated box kept under water to hold live fish.^[2]
7. (Indian Ocean) Boutique chinoise: a small general store.^[2]

Word family

• boutiquier
• arrière-boutique

Related words

• apothicaire
• bodéga

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 20b
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF