boche
The term boche [ bɔʃ ] comes from French and is mainly used as a condescending, often defamatory term for Germans . Its appearance in the second half of the 19th century roughly coincided with the renewed emergence of the Franco-German conflict . Furthermore, boche was increasingly used in the First and Second World Wars and is still in use today. During and after the First World War, Bochie (land of 'boches') was used condescendingly for 'Germany'.
Uses and meanings
Boche is an ethnophaulism of the French language for Germans. The expression une drôle de boche can also be used to describe a strange story without any reference to German nationality . In addition, there is the expression boche du nord , which was used to describeFrench war refugeesduring the First World War , and later northern French people in general. By transferring the word into Alemannic , the self-deprecating term “the Bosch ”aroseas a rare usagein southern Germany. Ernst von Salomon took up the term in his novel Boche in France (published 1950), an episode from his controversial work The Questionnaire .
etymology
The term boche probably has its etymological origin in the word alboche , a combination of the prefix al- - abbreviation for allemand "German" - and boche from caboche ("thick skull"). In the 19th century, the phrase tête de boche was used to insult someone as stubborn or stubborn. Originally a wooden ball, comparable to a cone ball , was also referred to as boche .
After linguist Charles Berlitz , the ending is -boche other hand (as well as z. B. the ending -miche ) nothing more than a (still in French slang diminutive common). So it was common in the vernacular to speak of Alboche “little German, little German” instead of “ Allemand ” , just as the word Italboche (instead of Italy ) was often used for Italians . The term alboche had a slightly condescending connotation among the French population, but was not understood as a dirty word.
The assumption that the term is derived from the name of the Bosch company is wrong, as it was only founded in 1886, but the term was already used in the Franco-Prussian War from 1870 to 1871. The view, still widespread in Germany, that boche would mean “pig” or at least be an outdated French term for bristle cattle is equally wrong.
See also
literature
- Erwin Berghaus: The Bosch. His picture according to the authoritative documents. With illustrations based on French originals . In: Süddeutsche Monatshefte . 21st year, issue 12 (September). Munich 1924 (with the chapters "Boche, Bochesse, Bochie", "Gretchen", "The upbringing of the young Bösche", "The Bosch on his travels", "The war Bosch" and others).
Web links
- "Boche", "Chleu" and "Fritz" from the show Karambolage on September 5, 2004 on arte.tv
swell
- ↑ Definition of "alboche" , Boche and "Bochie" at languefrancaise.net .
- ^ Philippe Nivet : Les Réfugiés français de la Grande Guerre, les boches du nord, 1914–1920 . Economica, 2004.
- ↑ Meaning of the word and etymology of "alboche" and "boche" in the Trésor de la française .
- ^ Charles Berlitz : The wonderful world of languages . Paul Zsolnay Verlag, Vienna and Hamburg 1984, p. 212, ISBN 3-426-03747-5 .