Etymologically
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braise

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bʁɛz/[1]

Forms

braise f (plural braises)[1] Old French breze (about 1170), brese, breise, bresze (1396).[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is obscure, perhaps Germanic.[2][4][5] The word is found throughout Romance (Italian brace, Old Italian “bragia”, Spanish brasa, Old Occitan brasa) and, from the 10th century in Medieval Latin “brasas carbones”.[2][6] It did not exist in West Germanic but is found in the North (Swedish brasa (“to roast; blazing fire”), Norwegian “bras” “crackling fire”), so Bloch and Wartburg and Rey suppose a Gothic stem “*bras-”, brought by the Goths, rather than a borrowing from Old Norse or Frankish.[2][6] Wiktionary gives Gothic “*brasa” “glowing coal”, from Proto-Germanic *brasō.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Livre des Rois (late 12th century) has un pain quit sur breze, a loaf baked on the embers.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

From the first texts it also meant “flame, ardour” (1176), mostly in phrases such as chaud comme braise and être sur la braise “to be on tenterhooks”.[2][7] It came to mean the light charcoal that rekindles easily (bresze, 1396), used by bakers (1718).[2]

The slang sense “money” (1783) is explained either from a Lyonnais braise “crumb, scrap” or as a metaphor, since embers “keep the pot boiling”; the Grand Robert and Petit Robert treat it as a separate word.[2][4][8] Derivatives include brasier and embraser (12th century), braiser (1783) and brésil (about 1170), a red dye wood compared to glowing embers, which gave its name to Brazil.[6]

Timeline

  • 10th century – Medieval Latin brasas carbones.[2]
  • c. 1170 – Breze, brésil.[2][6]
  • 1176 – “Ardour”.[2]
  • 1396 – Bresze “charcoal”.[2]
  • 1718 – Bakers' charcoal.[2]
  • 1783 – “Money” (slang); braiser.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Embers, live coals: griller sur la braise, des yeux de braise: fiery eyes.[8][1]
  2. Charcoal from partly burnt wood.[8][2]
  3. Être sur la braise: to be on tenterhooks.[8][7]
  4. (slang, dated) Cash, dough.[8][1]

Word family

  • brasier
  • embraser
  • braiser
  • braser
  • brasiller
  • brésil
  • embrasement
  • embrasure
  • braiser
  • brasier
  • embraser
  • brasero

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b 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. 15/1, 254a
  6. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert