boucanier French · revision 16121

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1654|origins=tpw mboka'ẽ}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bu.ka.nje/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''boucanier''' ''m'' (plural boucaniers)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|boucan|-ier]],^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary) from ''boucan'', the wooden grill on which the Indians of Brazil and the Caribbean smoked meat and fish.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Boucan'' was borrowed in 1578, in Jean de Léry's account of his voyage to Brazil, from [[tpw|mboka'ẽ|t=wooden grill]];^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Rey and Bloch and Wartburg explain the initial ⟨b⟩ by the frequent alternation of /p/, /m/ and /b/ at the start of Tupi and Guarani words.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The verb [[boucaner]] “to smoke meat on a boucan” is recorded from 1575.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1654 for the adventurers and backwoodsmen of Saint-Domingue who hunted wild cattle to smoke their meat on a boucan and trade their hides;^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1667–71.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By extension, and perhaps under the influence of an unrelated verb ''boucaner'' “to act like a billy goat”, the word was applied to the pirates who raided the coasts of America and the West Indies in the 17th century, and to their ships;^(DHLF 1992) the GLLF puts this down to confusion with the [[flibustier|alt=flibustiers]], who ruled the same seas at the time.^(GLLF 1989) Larousse notes that the buccaneers allied with the freebooters in the second half of the 17th century and at first served France and England against Spain.^(Larousse) The word also named the long, heavy gun these hunters used: ''un fusil boucannier'' appears in a Quebec inventory of 1682.^(BHVF)^(Larousse) In literary use it can mean any reckless adventurer, as in Hugo.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ English took the word as [[en|buccaneer]]: first in the 1660s for one who roasts meat on a boucan, then in the 1680s for a pirate.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1575 – The verb ''boucaner'' “to smoke meat” is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1578 – Jean de Léry describes the ''boucan'', the smoking grill.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1654 – First record of ''boucanier''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1660s – English ''buccaneer'' “one who roasts meat on a boucan”.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1680s – English ''buccaneer'' “pirate”.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1682 – A ''fusil boucannier'' is listed in a Quebec inventory.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(historical)'' An adventurer of the West Indies who hunted wild [[m|en|cattle]] to smoke the meat and trade the hides.^(TLFi)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(by extension)'' A [[m|en|pirate]] of the American seas in the 17th century; a [[m|en|buccaneer]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(figurative, literary)'' A reckless [[m|en|adventurer]].^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(historical)'' The long, heavy [[m|en|musket]] used by these hunters.^(Larousse)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[boucan]]

+ * [[boucaner]]

+ * [[flibustier]]

+ * [[tpw|mboka'ẽ]]

+ * [[en|buccaneer]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}