bouche French · revision 16441

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis (buce)|origins=la bucca}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /buʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec): /bʊʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bouche''' ''f'' (plural bouches)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|buce]], [[m|fro|buche]], then [[m|fro|boche]] (about 1150).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)

+ Picard has [[m|pcd|bouque]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|boche]], [[inh|la|bucca|t=puffed-out cheek, (plural) cheeks, jaws]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|1, 581b) Popular Latin already used it for the mouth, as Cicero shows, and it replaced classical [[m|la|ōs|t=mouth]]: an expressive word taking the place of the ordinary one.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) [[ro|bucă]] keeps the sense “cheek”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) Rey and the Petit Robert consider “bucca” to be of Celtic (Gaulish) origin, with no correspondents outside Latin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|bocca]], [[pro|boca]], [[ca|boca]], [[es|boca]] and [[pt|boca]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) [[bouque]] is a doublet, through Picard or Provençal.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As ''buce'' it is found about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'', meaning the [[m|en|mouth]].^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) The ''Chanson de Roland'' has ''Puis se baiserent es buches et es viz'' (“then they kissed each other on the mouth and face”).^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As the seat of taste and the organ of speech the word gave many phrases: ''pour la bonne bouche'' (1578), “to finish with”, ''bouche cousue'' “keep it quiet”, recorded by Furetière in 1690; and ''à bouche que veux-tu'' “in profusion” (1649).^(DHLF 1992) By metonymy it meant a person to be fed (1660), as in ''bouches inutiles''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ By analogy it has named the opening of a cavity since about 1150, the mouth of a river since the late 12th century and the muzzle of a gun since 1690, ''bouche d'égout'' belongs to this use.^(DHLF 1992) The western dialects of France now mostly say ''gueule'' for the mouth.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Buce'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1150 – The form ''boche''; first used for any opening.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * late 12th century – The mouth of a river.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1578 – ''Pour la bonne bouche''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1649 – ''À bouche que veux-tu''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1660 – A person to feed.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1690 – The muzzle of a gun, ''bouche cousue'' in Furetière.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|mouth]]: ''ouvrir la bouche'', ''respirer par la bouche''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # The lips and their expression: ''une bouche dédaigneuse''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # The mouth as the seat of [[m|en|taste]]: ''avoir la bouche sèche'', (of wine) ''long en bouche''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # The mouth as the organ of speech: ''de bouche à oreille'', ''bouche cousue''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A person to be fed: ''avoir trois bouches à nourrir''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ # An [[m|en|opening]]: ''bouche d'égout'', the muzzle of a gun.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' The mouth of a river.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bouchée]]

+ * [[aboucher]]

+ * [[arrière-bouche]]

+ * [[déboucher]]

+ * [[emboucher]]

+ * [[embouchure]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[buccal]]

+ * [[boucle]]

+ * [[bouque]]

+ * [[la|bucca]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}