brosse French · revision 15929

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=1165–1170, broce|origins=la bruscum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bʁɔs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''brosse''' ''f'' (plural brosses)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|broce]] (1165–1170), [[m|fro|broisse]] (about 1300).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is obscure.^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg, the FEW and the GLLF derive it from [[la-vul|*bruscia|t=growth of shoots]],^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|1, 572a) from [[la|bruscum|t=knot on the maple]] (Pliny), perhaps a Celtic word, which [[ca|brossa]] and [[es|broza|t=bark debris, twigs]] seem to support;^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) but Rey points out that the passage from “bruscum” to “bruscia” is difficult, and that “broisse”, the form expected, appears relatively late.^(DHLF 1992) Another proposal is “*broccia”, from Gaulish “*wroikos” “heather” (see [[bruyère]]), also difficult phonetically.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) P. Guiraud reconstructed “*broccia” from [[la|broccus|t=with projecting teeth]] (see [[broche]]).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Diez and Littré took it from a Germanic word for “bristle”, [[goh|burst]] ([[de|Bürste|t=brush]]);^(Littré 1873) Rey and Wiktionary consider this least likely, since the Germanic word does not mean “brushwood”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ [[en|brush]], in both senses “undergrowth” and “brush”, comes from the French word.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Old French ''broce'' (1165–1170) meant brushwood, a thicket of heather and briars.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old and Middle French used it for a thicket and a place full of brambles, and figuratively for a close-packed body of troops, Furetière still has ''brosses'' (1690), and the sense survives in forestry (1838) and in ''broussaille'' and ''brousse''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ The modern sense, a cleaning implement made of bristles, appears about 1300 (''broisse''), from the idea of a mass of stiff points;^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) Jean de Meun's ''Testament'' compares conscience pricking a man to a ''broisse''.^(Littré 1873) Phrases include ''brosse à dents'' (1751), ''brosse à ongles'' (1835) and ''brosse à reluire'' “flattery” (1944); in painting a ''brosse'' is a brush (1680), and ''cheveux en brosse'' a crew cut (1844).^(DHLF 1992) In Belgium ''brosse'' keeps the sense “broom”, and in Quebec ''prendre une brosse'' means “to get drunk”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) The verb ''brosser'' dates from 1374.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1165–1170 – ''Broce'' “brushwood”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1300 – ''Broisse'' “brush”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1374 – ''Bruissier'' “to brush”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1559 – ''Broussaille''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1680 – A painter's brush.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1751 – ''Brosse à dents''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1844 – ''En brosse''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1944 – ''Brosse à reluire''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|brush]]: ''brosse à dents'', ''brosse à cheveux'', ''brosse à habits''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A paintbrush (of an artist or decorator).^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Cheveux en brosse'', ''une brosse'': a [[m|en|crew cut]].^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Manier la brosse à reluire'': to toady, flatter.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(Belgium)'' A broom.^(Larousse)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(Quebec, familiar)'' ''Prendre une brosse'': to get drunk.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' Brushwood, thicket.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[brossage]]

+ * [[brosser]]

+ * [[brosseur]]

+ * [[brossier]]

+ * [[broussaille]]

+ * [[brousse]]

+ * [[brossée]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bruyère]]

+ * [[en|brush]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}