flibustier French · revision 15753

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1666, J. Clodoré|origins=nl vrijbuiter}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fli.bys.tje/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''flibustier''' ''m'' (plural flibustiers)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Fribustier'' (1667, still in Furetière 1690), ''flibutier'', ''flibustier'' (from 1666–1680); the ''s'', first only written, came to be pronounced in the early 18th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|en|flibutor]] (late 16th century), also “frebetter”, modern [[m|en|freebooter]], taken over in the Antilles,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Académie 9) itself from [[nl|vrijbuiter|t=plunderer]], literally “one who takes booty freely”, from [[m|nl|vrij|t=free]] and [[m|nl|buit|t=booty]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)^(FEW|17, 436b) Bloch and Wartburg and Wiktionary take the French word straight from Dutch, the English “flibutor” being attested only once.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) The change of “fr-” to “fl-” may be due to [[flibot]], a small ship, from [[nl|vlieboot]].^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse) Compare Old Liégeois “vributeur” “highwayman” and [[de|Freibeuter]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A memoir on Saint-Domingue by J. Clodoré (1666) uses it for a privateer of the American islands.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The ''flibustiers'' were the pirates who raided the coasts and the Spanish possessions of America in the 17th and 18th centuries^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007); ''flibuste'' (about 1642, ''fribuste'') is their piracy and their community.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The word is also an adjective (1722, ''barque flibustière'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ By extension it meant a highwayman (1756, Voltaire) and, weakened, a swindler (1828, Vidocq), a sense now dated.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) ''Flibuster'' (1701) “to plunder” survives only as a familiar, dated “to swindle” (1845).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) English ''filibuster'' comes from the French word.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1642 – ''Fribuste'', piracy.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1666 – ''Flibustier'', a privateer of the Antilles.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1667 – ''Fribustier'' (Du Tertre).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1701 – ''Flibuster''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1718 – First recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+ * 1756 – A highwayman (Voltaire).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1828 – A swindler (Vidocq).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(history)'' A [[m|en|freebooter]], a pirate of the Caribbean in the 17th and 18th centuries; a [[m|en|buccaneer]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(dated)'' A [[m|en|swindler]], a crook.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[flibuster]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[boucanier]]

+ * [[corsaire]]

+ * [[en|filibuster]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}