Bredouille

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Small ivory pennant as a mark of a grande bredouille ("big bredouille ") in the trick track game

A predicament ([ bredʊljə ]) denotes an embarrassment, difficulty or distress (eg. As in trouble stuck , someone into trouble bring ). The word, which comes from French , found its way into the German-speaking world from the 18th century, presumably through its use in the trick track game.

In French, however , the word bredouille is mostly used today as an adverb with the general meaning “with empty hands” or “without having achieved anything”. A common phrase is rentrer bredouille (p. Ex. De la chasse) , in English: "to return empty-handed / unsuccessful (e.g. from the hunt)"; Strictly speaking, among hunters it does not mean “with empty hands”, but rather “with insufficiently large hunted prey” (e.g. only with larks instead of larger venison ). Different views are expressed as to whether the French verb bredouiller , which means fast and incomprehensible speaking, should be considered the origin of bredouille .

In the game Tricktrack, Bredouille has several special meanings in German as well as in French ( bredouille : pronunciation [ bʀəˈduj ]).

"Bredouille" in the trick track

To click on the picture, please click closer to the edge of the picture.
Trictrac tablier et accessoires.jpg
Tricktrack game board with the three
little trouble playing discs

In French, the Tricktrack keyword bredouille ( fem. Noun) denotes the win of twelve points (at least in the game form Grand Trictrac therefore also: trou bredouille ; trou denotes twelve points), according to another representation of several or even all points without the Opponent has won any points at all; then the points gained in this way are counted twice. According to the edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française of 1835, (marquer en) petite bredouille (small bredouille [to achieve]) denotes six twelve-point wins in a row, whereupon points may be doubled; on the other hand, (marquer en) grande bredouille (great bredouille [to achieve]) means twelve or more twelve-point wins in a row, whereupon points may count four times. The Dictionnaire de Trévoux (1712) described twelve twelve-point wins in a row as tour bredouille , but did not mention any quadrupling rule.

In addition, the word refers to separate bredouille game pieces or discs, which could have been made of ivory at least in the early 18th century . They are placed next to the trick track board as long as there is still a bredouille opportunity in the current game . According to the edition of the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française from 1835, however, the stones indicate that a bredouille has already been achieved; also therefore served bredouille pennants to designate that a player has a petite bredouille had achieved. According to Émile Littré (1847-1865), however, a pennant generally served as an indicator that a player had recorded several twelve-point wins ( trous ) at the beginning of a game.

With the adjective bredouille in French Tricktrack jargon , on the one hand, an advantageous game situation can be expressed (from the perspective of the winning player: e.g. avoir la bredouille , être en bredouille - bredouille have or be in bredouille ), but on the other hand - as in German - also a negative situation (from the perspective of the losing player: e.g. être bredouille , perdre la partie bredouille - being bredouille or losing a game of bredouille ).

Also in German, or at least one double-counting, already won or to be won trick track game and the corresponding game disc are called "trouble". In addition, there is the everyday expression of being in a mess.

Etymology and history of words

In French, commentaries on the etymology of bredouille are known from at least the early 17th century. Since then, etymological knowledge has grown enormously, but there are still different information about the origin of bredouille to this day.

Early use in French and first attempt at etymology

Rabelais (* approx. 1494), oldest known user of the word
Tricktrack depiction, probably 1792: the pennant as a grande bredouille mark already existed (top right)

The oldest known mention of bredouille can be found in François Rabelais (approx. 1494–1553). He used the word in 1534 in his work La Vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel en cinq livres in a list of imaginative names given by nannies or nurses to an infant: L'une la nommait la petite dille, l'aultre ma pinne, l ' aultre ma branche de coural (…), ma andoille vermeille, ma petite couille bredouille. (German: One called it a little box, the other my tiller , the other my coral branch, (...), my crimson tripe sausage, my little annoyance bredouille . - The meaning of bredouille at Rabelais has not yet been clearly clarified, see below .)

The first clearly game-related usage is handed down from 1611, when the lexicographer Randle Cotgrave explained the word as "the advantageous situation of a card or trick track player"; In the same year, Cotgrave also recorded the expression être bredouillé as “being a little tipsy ”. In 1626 a French translation from Spanish about the course of a fight says: ... par ce moyen luy faict perdre son coup, & le met en bredouille, l'amant qui ne peut perdre ceste occasion, luy pousse une estocade .. . . At least from 1651 there was the phrase to get someone into trouble ( mettre en bredouille ) in the sense of "to embarrass someone". By 1680 at the latest, bredouille was also used in the trick track to denote a double game that was marked with two pieces; there have already been grande bredouille (twelve games in a row in which one gets the double bet) and partial bredouille mentioned (double counting).

The early use of the verb bredouiller (to speak indistinctly or to speak a lot) has been preserved in several letters from Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné ; A letter with the participle bredouillé (e) derived from bredouiller dates back to 1676 , apparently used for verbose compliments: Parère m'a écrit une lettre toute bredouillée de compliments et de protestations.

The philologist Jacob Le Duchat (1658–1735) published an early etymological speculation in 1711 in his commentary on Rabelais' work, among other notes on expressions used by Rabelais that were difficult or impossible to understand. According to Le Duchat, bredouille might come from bis-rotula or rotundula . Footnote 34:  It is unclear whether he made the suggestion out of ignorance of the word (i.e. as an attempt to make sense of the etymology) or thought it as additional information for the reader. A later commentator (1823 at the latest) described Le Duchat's idea simply as “ridiculous” (ibid) and instead interpreted bredouille as analogous to the verb bredouiller , i.e. H. as a reference to incomprehensible speech. However, he also pointed out the importance, taken from the Dictionnaire de Trévoux - that is, apparently not self-evident in his view and perhaps not known to himself - of leaving a dispute or dancing bredouille if one has not come to discussing or dancing (cf. returning from something that has not been achieved ), which he interpreted as "ashamed" (ibid.). In the 20th century, O. Bloch and W. von Wartburg would finally assume in their Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française that Rabelais' bredouille actually meant “she is embarrassed”.

The 1721 edition of the Dictionnaire de Trévoux already mentioned the current meanings of both bredouille and bredouiller . To bredouille , besides the meanings in the trick track, it also listed figurative meanings: A person is en bredouille (in a bredouille ) if his affairs are in such a mess that it changes his mind ( esprit ), or that so much freedom of speech is lacking that he no longer knows what he is doing or saying. Trévaux also mentions, as reported for the first time in the Trévaux edition of 1704, the meaning that is no longer used today that a woman leaves a ball bredouille if she has not been asked to dance (see also Rabelais comment above ). In addition, the lexicon also mentioned the verb bredouiller (with difficulty, speaking too quickly or incomprehensibly) and the corresponding nouns bredouilleur (someone who speaks so badly or quickly that you cannot understand him; also as an adjective) and bredouillement (speech error, who leads to poor pronunciation).

Presumably in the 18th century the word bredouille found its way into the German-speaking area as an expression in the trick track.

The French now familiar use of bredouille for unsuccessful hunting, however, was probably first recorded in writing in 1909; the full expression revenir bredouille could not even be established until 1931.

Etymology search in the 19th century

Tricktrack is centuries old; it is unclear when the expression bredouille developed ( Codex Manesse , 14th century)

The lexicographer and grammarian Napoléon Landais (1804-1852) suspected that the expression revenir bredouille (return without having achieved anything ) must have developed from the passive of the word - from être bredouillé (for example: "bredouilliert"). Since the word bredouille can express both active and passive (see the similar expressions from the perspective of winners and losers in the trick track), Landais strongly rejected the use of the word.

Louis Dochez published the Nouveau dictionnaire de la langue française in 1860 , in which the Celtic word broë (verbosity) suggested as the origin of bredouiller ; However, while Dochez defined bredouille and other words beginning with bredouill , he did not indicate any further etymological roots for them.

Auguste Scheler did not mention the word bredouille in 1862 in the Dictionnaire d'étymologie française d'après les résultats de la science modern , but paid some attention to the etymology of the verb bredouiller . With reference to the German Romanist Friedrich Christian Diez , he named as one possibility the origins of the old French braidir , bredir and Provencal braidir (singing, babbling, speaking indistinctly; with further etymological information). He also highlighted Dochez's "acumen" with his suggestion of the Celtic broë . Scheler himself pointed to similarities between bredouiller to the German words bubbling , effervescent spindles and bradeln out. He also claimed that already Gilles Ménage (1613–1692) had derived from the Latin blaesus both bredouiller and bègue (stuttering); At least in Ménage's etymological work Les Origines de la langue française there is no entry for bredouiller , and bègue was rather derived from balbus via baluus .

In his Dictionnaire de la langue française (« Littré ») , which was written from 1847 to 1865, Littré explained the origin of bredouille , the word that the trick track game “undoubtedly” borrowed from the word bredouiller (to speak incomprehensibly). With regard to the word bredouiller , Littré emphasized that there were absolutely no old French examples of its use. Littré also referred to Diez for possible approaches to an etymology of bredouiller (and thus, in his view, of bredouille ); According to him, bredouille comes from the old French bredir , bresdir , hennir ; Provencal braidir (to call, shout), which seems to be derived from braire (to roar); the etymology, so Littré, is doubtful. On the other hand, have François Génin ( Recreations philologiques , Vol 1, p 280) as the origin of a composition of the pejorative - particles bre or over with douille proposed ( "bulging" or "filled"), but what is too hypothetical to Littré opinion and the Word bredouille doesn't explain well either. Littré himself pointed out that in the Picardy of Picardy and the region around Valenciennes ( le picard et le rouchi the word still some places used) berdeler (grumble between his teeth or growl) and the word bredasse (same meaning to bredouilleur , that someone who speaks indistinctly). Littré concludes from this that there was a stem of the word berd or bred , even if it was not clear whether it had a connection to the old bredir . In a complementary volume ( Supplément ) to the dictionary edition of 1880 quoted called Luitre also an example of the use of the word berdeler and recorded from the 13th century to, be it through the still in use today in Picardy word berdeler proved that bredeler (13th century. ) represent the modern French word bredouiller .

In the monthly magazine Le Courrier de Vaugelas , which answered grammatical and philological questions in French, the question of the meaning and etymology of bredouille (example: returning from hunting bredouille ) appeared in May 1870 . In the answer, which also referred to the Trévoux, the trick track game was named as its origin; the etymology of the word is unknown. In addition, the author referred to Littré, according to which the word was not known from ancient times, and agreed with Landais' opinion that the word - which is both active and passive - should be avoided.

The Dictionnaire d'étymologie française also indicated that the verb ending -ouiller in French more often denotes movements or sounds in rapid succession. Examples are bafouiller (stammering, stuttering), chatouiller (tickling, tingling), farfouiller (rummaging around, poking around) and gazouiller (babbling, chirping).

Modern assumptions about etymology

Most authors still assume that the expression bredouille, known from Tricktrack and in a figurative sense, is related to the verb bredouiller in the sense of incomprehensible and many speeches and originated from it (see also above: Littré, 1865 ); occasionally, however, the opposite view of a separate or bredouille etymology is also represented.

Origin of " bredouille " in " bredouiller "

The French dictionary Le Grand Robert (1966) derives bredouille from the verb bredouiller (to speak incomprehensibly, cf. Littré) from the old French onomatopoeic word bredeler (German: mumble). From this the verb bredouiller, first mentioned in 1564, and finally the noun bredouille (German: to fail) emerged. (In view of the suggested time, it can be assumed that the Robert editors were not aware of the above use of the word by Rabelais.)

The Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française by O. Bloch and W. von Wartburg also assumes a relationship between bredouille and bredouiller . The latter is a variant of the old French bredeler ( cf.Littré, 1865 ), bret (t) er (babbling, humming) and bretonner (stammering, stuttering; in the real sense also: speaking like a Breton - i.e. probably difficult to understand), who all of them went back to brittus ( Breton ).

Illustration of todas tablas in the libro de los juegos (Book of Games) by Alfonso X. (1251–1282)

Origin of " bredouiller " possibly in " bredouille "

The authors of the Trésor de la langue française informatisé assume an origin of bredouiller in bredouille or possibly even a separate origin . The transferred meaning of bredouille (unsuccessful, unsuccessful, in distress, etc.) may have emerged from the trick track; However, the authors are silent about the further origin of the term trick track. In any case, a relationship with indistinct speech - even if a lack of understanding can also lead to embarrassment - can not be assumed for semantic reasons.

Origin of " bredouille " and " bredouiller " in " berdouille "

According to a hypothesis put forward by P. Guirard (quoted in Lenoble-Pinson, 1989) in the Dictionnaire des etymologies obscures , the connection between être bredouille (game, hunt) and bredouiller lies in a common relationship with the word berdouille (dirt, mud), which, according to Guirard, has been proven in northern France. The trick track expression être berdouille means to be stuck (in the mud) or to have got stuck. This hypothesis is apparently also based on Knaur's dictionary of the German language (1985, p. 228) and the Duden , which briefly and without specifying earlier French forms state that bredouille originally meant dirt in French ; the further origin of the word is not known.

Web links

Wiktionary: Bredouille  - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Michèle Lenoble-Pinson: Poil et plume: Termes de chasse et langue courante. Vénerie, fauconnerie, chasse à tir . Ducolot, Paris 1989, pp. 44-47
  2. ↑ a b c d bredouille . In: Dictionnaire de la langue française (“ Littré ”), quoted on the Mediadico website (accessed May 3, 2010).
  3. ^ Backgammon Variants. Trictrac (Grand Trictrac) on a backgammon website: bkgm.com (accessed May 3, 2010)
  4. ↑ a b Backgammon Variants. Trictrac (Grand Trictrac) on a backgammon website: bkgm.com (accessed May 3, 2010)
    David Levy (2007). Rules for the Game of Trictrac ( Memento of the original from March 18, 2010 in the Internet Archive )     Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. [private website about the trick track game] (accessed May 3, 2010) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pages.sbcglobal.net
  5. ↑ also a modern blog entry about Tricktrack, but without reference to the source: Le jeu de trictrac Blog Lugar do Olhar Felix (French; accessed May 3, 2010)
  6. ↑ a b bredouille . In: Dictionnaire de l ' Académie française , Volume 1, 1835. (accessed May 3, 2010)
  7. ↑ a b c F. Delaulne: Dictionnaire de Trévoux . Volume 1. Paris 1721.
  8. ↑ so too bredouille . In: Dictionnaire de L ' académie française , 8th edition, 1935, still currently used (2010), quoted on the Mediadico website (accessed May 3, 2010)
  9. ^ Bredouille in the Meyers Konversationslexikon . Publishing house of the Bibliographisches Institut, Leipzig and Vienna, fourth edition, 1885–1892. (accessed May 3, 2010)
  10. ↑ a b Rabelais : La Vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel en cinq livres , Book 1. Chapter 11. P. 234 of the edition published in Paris by Dalibon-Verlag (accessed May 3, 2010)
  11. ↑ According to commentators in 18./19. Century, including Le Duchat: vague, presumably suggestive meaning, perhaps derived from penis; see comments on: Rabelais: La Vie de Gargantua et de Pantagruel en cinq livres , Book 1, Chapter 11. Footnote 31 (p. 234/235) of the edition published in Paris by Dalibon-Verlag (accessed May 3, 2010)
  12. ↑ a b c bredouille2, subst. fém. on the website of the Trésor de la langue française informatisé (accessed May 4, 2010)
  13. ↑ L'Admirable histoire du Chevalier du Soleil ... 1626, p. 160
  14. ^ Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, marquise de Sévigné (January 8, 1676). Lettre à Mme de Grignan. In: Lettres inédites , éd. Capmas, Volume 1, p. 395
    quoted by Littré: bredouillé in the Dictionnaire de la langue française (" Littré "), quoted on the Mediadico website (accessed May 3, 2010)
    Further examples of bredouiller are listed in the 1880 edition: bredouille in: Émile Littré (1880). Dictionnaire de la langue française (« Littré »), quoted on the website of dictionnaire.sensagent.com (accessed May 4, 2010)
  15. ↑ a b quoted in Michèle Lenoble-Pinson: Poil et plume: Termes de chasse et langue courante. Vénerie, fauconnerie, chasse à tir . Ducolot, Paris 1989, p. 44
  16. ↑ (...) un chasseur qui aurait tiré dix douzaines d'alouettes au chien d'arrêt n'en serait pas moins bredouille - V. Collard (June 1909), garde particulier. Journal des chasseurs et des gardes, p. 485, c. 3
    revenir bredouille - in an article on September 5, 1931 in the Journal des chasseurs et des gardes
    both cited in: Michèle Lenoble-Pinson: Poil et plume: Termes de chasse et langue courante. Vénerie, fauconnerie, chasse à tir . Ducolot, Paris 1989, pp. 44-47.
  17. ↑ a b Eman Martin (Ed.): (). Le Courrier de Vaugelas , Volume 2, No. 16, May 1870, pp. 122–123
  18. ↑ Louis Dochez : Nouveau dictionnaire de la langue française Paris: Librairie ecclésiastique et classique de Ch. Fouraut . 1860, p. 162
  19. ↑ Gilles Ménage: Les origines de la langue françoise . Courbé, Paris 1540, p. 103 (accessed May 4, 2010)
  20. ↑ a b bredouille in: Émile Littré (1865). Dictionnaire de la langue française (" Littré "), quoted on the website of dicocitations.com (accessed May 4, 2010)
  21. ↑ Sentence from the 13th century: Ainz c'on ait dit deus misereles [misérérés], Ont il dites et murmulées, Bauboiées et bredelées Et leur heures et leur matines (Gautier de Coinsy: Les Miracles de la seinte Vierge . P. 485 ( abbé Poquet)). Quoted in bredouiller . In: Émile Littré: Supplément au dictionnaire: Dictionnaire de la langue française , 1880 (" Littré "), quoted on the website of dictionnaire.sensagent.com (accessed May 4, 2010)
  22. ↑ Bredouille2, subst. fém. in the Trésor de la langue française informatisé (accessed on May 16, 2010)
  23. ↑ bredouille im Duden (accessed on May 3, 2010)