Etymologically
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brigade

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 17:27. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /bʁi.ɡad/[1]

Forms

brigade f (plural brigades)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian brigata (“troop, band”),[2][3][4][5] which named a military company in the 13th century and a team of workers in the 14th.[3] The Italian word comes from briga (“strife; company”), probably as the feminine past participle of a verb brigare that must have meant “to go in a troop”.[3][4][6] Guiraud links briga to Gothic *brikan (“to break”).[5] The same Italian family gave French brigand and brigue.[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Guillaume de Machaut uses it about 1360–1370 of a band or company of people.[7][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Until the 16th century it meant any troop of people;[4][7] it was applied to armed troops from 1549, probably by a new borrowing from Italian, and the poets of the Pléiade first called themselves the Brigade.[4][3][7] The modern military sense, a unit of several regiments under one commander, is from 1789, and général de brigade is still in use.[4][3]

From the 19th century it spread to other groups under a head: a brigade of gendarmes (1835), a gang of workmen (1867) and kitchen staff.[3][1] The Brigades internationales fought in Spain from 1936 to 1938, and the Brigades rouges (from Italian brigate rosse) were Italian terrorists from 1970.[3][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1370 – A band of people (Machaut).[3][5]
  • 1549 – Armed troops.[4]
  • 1642 – Brigadier.[4]
  • 1789 – A unit of several regiments.[4]
  • 1835 – Brigade de gendarmerie.[3]
  • 1867 – A gang of workers.[3][1]
  • 1936 – The International Brigades.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (military) A brigade, a tactical unit within a division.[8][9]
  2. The smallest unit of the gendarmerie, or a police squad: brigade des mœurs.[7][8]
  3. A team of workers under a foreman.[8][1]
  4. (classical) A troop or band of people.[7][10]

Word family

  • embrigader
  • brigadier
  • embrigadement

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d 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. 23, 97a
  7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette