boucan French · revision 15826
17 Oct 2026, 21:00 by bogdan “New French entry (TLFi, FEW, DHLF, Bloch–Wartburg…)” current version
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+ French has two words spelled ''boucan'': the Caribbean smoking grill, borrowed from Tupi, and the familiar word for a din, of uncertain origin.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ {{homograph|1|smoking grill}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1578, Jean de Léry|origins=tpw mboka'ẽ}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /bu.kɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''boucan''' (plural boucans)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The grill is borrowed from Tupi “mokaém” “wooden grill”, through a variant “bokaem”, ⟨p⟩, ⟨m⟩ and ⟨b⟩ often alternating at the beginning of words in Tupi and Guarani;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|20, 72b) Wiktionary gives [[bor|tpw|mboka'ẽ|t=wooden grill]].^(Wiktionary) Littré reported other explanations from Carib.^(Littré 1873)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ Jean de Léry's account of his voyage to Brazil (1578) has it for the wooden grill on which the Indians smoked meat and fish.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The ''Dictionnaire français-caraïbe'' (1666) uses it for the grills of the Caribbean islands and, by metonymy, for the shelter where the smoking was done and for the smoked meat or fish itself.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) A ''boucan de tortue'' (1722) was turtle pâté cooked under embers.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873) In New Caledonian French ''boucan'' means a spell or poison in Kanak sorcery.^(DHLF 1992)
+
+ The verb ''boucaner'' (1575–1578) “to smoke (meat)” gave ''boucanier'' (1654), the adventurers of Santo Domingo who hunted wild cattle and smoked their meat, and later the buccaneers who preyed on the Caribbean.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) [[en|buccan]] is borrowed from the noun.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1575 – The verb ''boucaner''.^(DHLF 1992)
+ * 1578 – ''Boucan'' in Jean de Léry.^(DHLF 1992)
+ * 1654 – ''Boucanier''.^(DHLF 1992)
+ * 1666 – The smoking shelter, in the ''Dictionnaire français-caraïbe''.^(DHLF 1992)
+ * 1722 – ''Boucan de tortue''.^(DHLF 1992)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(historical, Caribbean)'' A wooden grill for smoking meat or fish; the place where this was done.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)
+ # ''(dated)'' Meat smoked in this way.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)
+ # ''(New Caledonia)'' A spell, poison.^(DHLF 1992)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[boucaner]]
+ * [[boucanier]]
+ * [[boucane]]
+
+ {{homograph|2|din}}
+
+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=back-formation|attested=c. 1624}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA: /bu.kɑ̃/^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''boucan''' ''m'' (plural boucans)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ The noise word is of uncertain origin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Wartburg, followed by Bloch and Wartburg and Rey, takes it as a back-formation from an old verb “boucaner” “to act like a goat” (1549–1663), also “to frequent brothels”, from [[bouc]], the goat being a symbol of lechery;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|1, 588b) Wiktionary derives it from “boucaner” “to imitate the goat's cry” and compares [[it|baccano]].^(Wiktionary) P. Guiraud linked it instead with “boucan” “smoking shelter”, by way of “hut, house of ill fame”;^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) a derivation from [[la|Vulcānus|t=Vulcan]] through Old French “boucan” “hell” is thought to lack foundation.^(DHLF 1992)^(REW 1935)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ ''Les Ramoneurs'' (about 1624) has it in the sense “house of ill fame”.^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ The modern sense “din, racket” is found from 1790 in revolutionary pamphlets of the ''Père Duchêne'' type (''faire un boucan de diable'').^(BHVF)^(Petit Robert 2007) It is now a familiar word: ''faire du boucan'', ''un boucan de tous les diables''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 1549 – The verb ''boucaner'' “to act the goat”.^(DHLF 1992)
+ * c. 1624 – ''Boucan'' “house of ill fame”.^(GLLF 1989)
+ * 1790 – “Din, racket”.^(BHVF)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # ''(familiar)'' A [[m|en|racket]], din, [[m|en|uproar]]: ''faire du boucan''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)
+ # ''(obsolete)'' A brothel.^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[bouc]]
+ * [[en|buccaneer]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}