bois French · revision 17367

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=frk *busk}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bwa/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /bwɑ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bois''' ''m'' (countable and uncountable, invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|bos]], ''bosc'', and ''bois'', Middle French ''boys''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-med|boscus|t=wooded land]], recorded from 704 in a charter of Childeric III, and in the plural “bosci”, which gave “bois” (“boscus” would have given “bos”).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary) The Medieval Latin word is borrowed from [[frk|*busk|t=bush, thicket]], which can be deduced from [[goh|busc]] and [[osx|busc]]; compare [[de|Busch]] and [[en|bush]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|15/1, 192b) The age of the word in Germanic rules out a borrowing the other way, and its spread through Gallo-Romance, Catalonia (878) and northern Italy (895) favours a Frankish source.^(DHLF 1992) Pierre Guiraud did not rule out a connection with [[la|buxus|t=box tree]].^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|bosc]], [[it|bosco]] and [[es|bosque]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100), meaning a place covered with trees.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French ''bois'' stood beside ''selve'', from Latin ''silva'', which it eliminated; it remains in competition with [[forêt]], which in the Middle Ages was land reserved for lordly hunting.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Early on it took the sense “wood, the substance of trees”, ousting Old French ''leigne'' from Latin ''ligna''; worked wood is recorded from 1243 (''en bosc'').^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) By metonymy it also named a deer's antlers, woodwind instruments and woodcuts.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ In Canadian French ''le bois'' may be a large forest, as in ''coureur de bois'', and ''on n'est pas sorti du bois'' means “we're not out of the woods yet”.^(DHLF 1992) Derivatives include [[boiser]] (1671), [[boiserie]] (about 1700), [[bûcheron]] (1550, from ''boscheron'') and [[buisson]] (12th century).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 704 – ''Boscus'' in a Merovingian charter.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1100 – In the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 12th century – ''Buisson''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1243 – ''En bosc'' “made of wood”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 13th century – ''Boscheron'', later ''bûcheron''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1671 – ''Boiser''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1869 – ''Sous-bois''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|wood]], small forest: ''se promener dans les bois''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Wood as a material: ''une table en bois'', ''bois de chauffage''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # A kind of wood: ''un bois précieux''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Bois'' (plural): the [[m|en|antlers]] of a deer.^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(music)'' The [[m|en|woodwind]] instruments.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(art)'' A woodcut, ''(golf)'' a wood.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Toucher du bois'': to touch wood, ''langue de bois'': political cant, ''gueule de bois'': a hangover.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[hautbois]]

+ * [[sous-bois]]

+ * [[boiser]]

+ * [[boiserie]]

+ * [[bûcheron]]

+ * [[buisson]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bosquet]]

+ * [[bouquet]]

+ * [[forêt]]

+ * [[en|bush]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}