bureaucratique

Forms

bureaucratique (plural bureaucratiques)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French bureaucratie + -ique.^[2][3][4][5] Wiktionary allows it to be formed on bureaucrate as well.^[1] The noun was coined by Gournay, who died in 1759, from bureau and -cratie, and spread during the Revolution.^[6]

The TLFi and the GLLF date the adjective to the Académie's supplement of 1798; the Robert dictionaries and Bloch–Wartburg's 6th edition give 1796, and the BHVF quotes that year's text.^{[2][3][6][4][7]} The English word bureaucratic (1836) was taken from it.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1796 the Rapsodies du jour has a writer living on mon travail bureaucratique, “my office work”, which pays him all the better for paying him all the less.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Littré still labelled it a neologism and defined it as “proper to people who work in offices”.^[9] The TLFi keeps that sense, “typical of office clerks”, with examples from Sainte-Beuve (1834) and Stendhal, beside the main sense “belonging to an all-powerful administration”.^[2] The Académie now marks the word as pejorative.^[5] The adverb bureaucratiquement is first recorded in 1961.^[2]

Timeline

• 1796 – Travail bureaucratique appears in the Rapsodies du jour.^[7][6]
• 1798 – The supplement to the Académie's dictionary records the word.^[2][3]
• 1836 – English bureaucratic is formed after the French word.^[8]
• 1961 – First record of the adverb bureaucratiquement.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Relating to bureaucracy or to an all-powerful administration: le pouvoir bureaucratique.^[2][4][3]
2. (pejorative) Marked by the slowness and red tape of administration: Il a fallu trois mois de formalités bureaucratiques pour obtenir ce permis.^[5][3]
3. (dated) Typical of clerks and office workers.^[2][9]

Word family

• bureaucratiquement

Related words

• bureaucratie
• bureaucrate
• bureau

References

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