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débâcle

Etymology and origin of the French word débâcle

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Back-formation
First attested
1680, Richelet
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French débâcle
English debacle

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /de.bakl/[1]
  • IPA: /de.bɑkl/[1]

Forms

débâcle f (plural débâcles)[1]

Etymology

It is the noun of débâcler (“to unbar; to clear”) (1416),[2][3][4][5] from “dé-” and bâcler (“to bar (a door)”), which Bloch and Wartburg take from Old Occitan “baclar” and Vulgar Latin *bacculāre, from “*bacculum”, another form of Latin baculum (“stick”): “to bar with a stick”.[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Richelet (1680) has debacle for clearing a port of the ships that crowd it.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Furetière (1690) used it for the breaking up of the ice on a river, carried off by the current, the sense now usual in geography.[2][7] Figuratively it meant a revolution (Boiste, 1803) and, before 1850 (Balzac), a sudden collapse that ruins a business or an institution, especially the rout of an army, as in Zola's La Débâcle on the defeat of 1870.[2][7][8] With the article, la débâcle is the French defeat of May–June 1940.[1] The opposite embâcle was formed in 1836.[3] English debacle is recorded from 1802 in geology and, from 1848 for a disaster.[6]

Timeline

  • 1416 – Débâcler.[3]
  • 1680 – Clearing a port, in Richelet.[2]
  • 1690 – The breaking up of ice, in Furetière.[2]
  • 1802 – English debacle in geology.[6]
  • 1803 – “Revolution”, in Boiste.[2]
  • 1836 – Embâcle.[3]
  • Before 1850 – “Collapse”, in Balzac.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The breaking up of ice on a river.[8][9]
  2. A rout (of an army): la retraite s'acheva en débâcle.[9][8]
  3. A debacle, collapse, ruin: débâcle financière.[8][1]
  4. (history) La Débâcle: the French defeat of 1940.[1]
  • débâcler
  • embâcle
  • bâcler
  • English debacle

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  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. 1, 201a
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Débâcle.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/d%C3%A9b%C3%A2cle. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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