boulevard French · revision 15597

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=before 1365, bolevers|origins=dum bolwerc}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bul.vaʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''boulevard''' ''m'' (plural boulevards)^(Wiktionary)

+ Older forms: ''bolevers'' (before 1365), ''bollewerc'' (1425), ''bollevart'' (1429), ''boulevars'' (15th century), ''bolvert'' (1509); ''boulevard'' from 1559, though ''boulevart'' was still allowed in the 18th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|dum|bolwerc|t=bulwark, bastion]] rather than the corresponding [[gmh|bolwërc]], though it may have come by both routes;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|15/1, 178a) the early records are from Walloon and Picard texts.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It is a compound of a word for “plank, beam” and [[m|dum|werc|t=work]], so properly a work of planks and beams.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) The ending was later assimilated to the suffix [[-ard]], and the vowel to [[boule]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The same Germanic compound gave [[en|bulwark]] and [[de|Bollwerk]];^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992) from French come [[it|baluardo]] and [[es|baluarte]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found before 1365 as ''bolevers'', in the chronicle of Jean le Bel of Liège, for a defensive earthwork in front of a rampart.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1509 it was also used figuratively for any protection or safeguard.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) With new methods of warfare the military sense grew old in the 17th and 18th centuries,^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) and the word passed to the tree-lined promenade laid out where old ramparts had stood: Boiste records this in 1803.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It then came to mean any broad city street.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ In Paris ''les Boulevards'' were the haunt of artists and pleasure-seekers (Stendhal, before 1842), and the popular theatres on them gave ''théâtre de boulevard'' (1867), light comedy.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) The ''boulevardier'' is a man about town.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1365 – ''Bolevers'', a defensive work.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1425 – ''Bollewerc''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1509 – Figurative “protection”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1559 – The spelling ''boulevard'' in Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – Furetière considers the word military only.^(TLFi)

+ * 1803 – A tree-lined walk around a town.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1867 – ''Théâtres des boulevards''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|boulevard]], a broad, often tree-lined city street.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A wide road round a town on the site of former [[m|en|rampart|alt=ramparts]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Théâtre de boulevard'': light popular [[m|en|comedy]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(historical)'' A [[m|en|bulwark]], an earthwork in front of a fortification;^(TLFi) ''(figurative)'' a defence.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[boulevardier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|boulevard]]

+ * [[en|bulwark]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}