bière French · revision 16763

+ {{homograph|1|beer}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1429, a text from Dieppe}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bjɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bière''' ''f'' (plural bières)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The drink is a word of Germanic origin, [[bor|dum|bier]] or [[gmh|bier]];^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary) Rey thinks Dutch influence was the stronger, since brewing and hop growing were developed in Flanders and the Low Countries, though German beers were also well known.^(DHLF 1992) The word came with a new technique, beer made with [[houblon|alt=hops]], and in the 15th century it displaced [[cervoise]], of Gaulish origin, a similar drink made without hops.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Rey traces the Germanic word, to which [[ang|bēor]] corresponds, to [[la-med|biber|t=a drink]], a monastic word, the clipped infinitive of [[m|la|bibō|t=to drink]] used as a noun (see [[boire]]); Wiktionary gives [[gem-pro|*beuzą]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Compare [[it|birra]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1429, in a text from Dieppe.^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Olivier de Serres (16th century) describes beer as a grain drink with different names in Lorraine, England, Scotland, Flanders and further north.^(Littré 1873) ''Petite bière'' (17th century), weak beer brewed from grain already used, as opposed to strong beer, gave the familiar ''ce n'est pas de la petite bière'' “it is no small matter” (1790);^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) Désaugiers (1822) has ''je n'suis plus que d'la p'tit' bière'' of a person.^(BHVF)

+

+ The word is also used of similar drinks: ''bière de mil'' in African French, ''bière d'épinette'' in Canada, and in Quebec ''bière en fût'' for draught beer.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1429 – First record, at Dieppe.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 15th century – It displaces ''cervoise''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 17th century – ''Petite bière'', weak beer.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1790 – ''C'est de la petite bière''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1822 – Used of a person, Désaugiers.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|beer]]: a fermented drink made from malted barley flavoured with hops, ''bière blonde, brune'', ''bière (à la) pression'', draught beer.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A glass of beer.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Ce n'est pas de la petite bière'': it is no small thing.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ {{homograph|2|coffin}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=11th century (stretcher)|origins=frk *bera}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bjɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bière''' ''f'' (plural bières)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The coffin is [[inh|fro|biere]], [[bor|frk|*bera|t=stretcher, litter]] (compare [[de|Bahre]]),^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|15/1, 104a)^(Wiktionary) a deverbal noun from [[m|frk|*beran|t=to carry]], a verb of the Germanic root [[gem-pro|*ber-]] that Rey connects with the Indo-European root also seen in [[la|ferō|t=to carry]] and [[grc|φέρω|tr=phérō]].^(DHLF 1992) [[it|bara]] comes from [[lng|bâra]], which corresponds to the Frankish word with another vowel.^(DHLF 1992) Compare [[en|bier]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found in the 11th century meaning a [[m|en|stretcher]] on which the sick, the wounded and especially the dead were carried.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Rey links its history to burial customs: from the 5th to the 8th century the dead were usually buried in the bare ground, sometimes on a plank, and the bier was often left in the grave as their bed.^(DHLF 1992) When coffins, first reserved for the great, became common, the word came to mean a wooden [[m|en|coffin]] (late 12th century).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Before the 16th century it left its original sense “stretcher” to [[civière]], though eastern dialects kept it; a sense “funeral” is isolated in Middle French, and “tomb” (16th century) disappeared in the early 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 11th century – “Stretcher, litter”.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * Late 12th century – “Coffin”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 16th century – The sense “tomb”, lost in the early 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(literary)'' A [[m|en|coffin]], ''mise en bière'', the laying of the body in the coffin.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}