bureaucratie

Forms

bureaucratie f (plural bureaucraties)^[1] A 1790 text has the spelling burocratie.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French bureau + -cratie,^[3][4][5][1] the suffix coming from Ancient Greek -κρατία (-kratía, “power, rule”).^[5][6] The word was coined by the economist Vincent de Gournay, who died in 1759,^[3][1][7][6] on the model of démocratie and aristocratie,^[6] and spread during the Revolution, around 1790.^[3][4] Littré called it a very incorrect neologism, made necessary by the growing power of offices over every undertaking.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is credited to Gournay, before 1759, as the power of government offices.^[3][4][2] In 1790 a pamphlet of the Revolution defined it as an administration in which all authority is shared among the heads of offices.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1790 it appeared in the title of an article of Les Révolutions de Paris, and a satirical dictionary of that year mocked the “alliance of Greek and French” that named the tyranny of the offices and their clerks.^[2] By 1794 Babeuf used it for the body of officials itself.^[2]

The word has always been pejorative: the excessive, heavy and routine power of the administration,^[9][4][10] and by extension the whole body of officials seen in terms of their power in the State.^[4][10][11] The derivatives bureaucrate (1792) and bureaucratique (1796) followed,^[7] and English took the word as bureaucracy in 1818.^[6]

Timeline

• before 1759 – Vincent de Gournay coins the word.^[3][4][7]
• 1790 – It spreads during the Revolution and appears in Les Révolutions de Paris.^[3][2]
• 1792 – Bureaucrate is recorded.^[7]
• 1794 – Babeuf uses it of the body of officials.^[2]
• 1796 – Bureaucratique is recorded.^[7]
• 1818 – English bureaucracy is borrowed from the French word.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (pejorative) The excessive power of offices and officials; heavy, routine and abusive administration, red tape.^[4][9][5]
2. The whole body of officials, considered in terms of their power or influence; a bureaucracy.^[4][11][5]
3. The power of the staff of any administrative apparatus, such as that of a party, a union or a company.^[11]

Word family

• bureaucratique
• bureaucratiser

Related words

• bureau
• bureaucrate
• démocratie
• aristocratie

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)