boulot French · revision 17252

+ {{homograph|1|plump}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1830, Supplément aux Mémoires de Vidocq}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bu.lo/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''boulot''' (feminine ''boulotte'')^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The adjective “plump” is [[af|fr|boule|-ot]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1830, in a supplement to the memoirs of Vidocq, meaning “short and chubby”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Bescherelle records it in 1845, and Littré marks it as popular.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) As a noun it named an oblong four-pound loaf, ''pain boulot''; in popular use ''du boulot'' (1879) also meant food, the sense of the verb ''boulotter'' “to eat”.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1830 – “Short and chubby”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1845 – In Bescherelle's dictionary.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1879 – ''Boulot'' “food”.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(familiar)'' Short and [[m|en|plump]], chubby: ''une femme boulotte''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''Une boulotte'': a plump little woman.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(dated)'' An oblong loaf, ''pain boulot''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse)

+

+ {{homograph|2|work}}

+

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=back-formation|attested=1881 (bouleau, “fight”)}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bu.lo/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /bu.lɔ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''boulot''' ''m'' (plural boulots)^(Wiktionary)

+ First written ''bouleau'' (1881), then ''boulot'' (1892).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The noun “work” is of uncertain origin.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) The Robert dictionaries and Wiktionary take it as a back-formation from [[boulotter]], in its old sense “to get along, jog along”, a diminutive of [[bouler|t=to roll]], Bloch and Wartburg say the development is not clear.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Rey thinks the earliest attested sense, “action, fight” (1881), points rather to [[boule]] and “bouler”; he finds the derivation from the tree [[bouleau]], whose wood is hard to work, unfounded, though a foresters' phrase “abattre du bouleau” cannot be ruled out.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In slang, written ''bouleau'', it first meant a fight (1881).^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ About 1900 it spread in familiar speech as “work, job, trade”, probably under the influence of ''boulotter'', which had meant “to work” (1844) before being replaced by [[boulonner]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) About 1920 slang used it for a worker.^(DHLF 1992) ''Boulot boulot'', of someone who thinks only of work, is recorded in 1931.^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992) Pierre Béarn's 1951 poem gave the phrase ''métro, boulot, dodo'' for the daily grind.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1881 – ''Bouleau'' “fight”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1892 – The spelling ''boulot''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1900 – “Work”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * c. 1920 – “A worker”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1931 – ''Boulot boulot''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1951 – ''Métro, boulot, dodo'', Pierre Béarn.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(familiar)'' [[m|en|work]]: ''aller au boulot'', ''du bon boulot''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A [[m|en|job]]: ''chercher du boulot'', ''un petit boulot''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Métro, boulot, dodo'': the daily grind.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Boulot boulot'': hard-working, always thinking of work.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[boule]]

+ * [[boulotter]]

+ * [[bouler]]

+ * [[boulonner]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}