Thread
Index
French meanings of "bourrel"
Kent Smith
Nov. 9, 1995, 3:15 p.m. (Message 3047)
As faithful readers of the strathspey list know, there has been a
continuing and now unraveling thread on strathspey about "birl" vs "bourrel"
and Priscilla Burrage and I have been discussing it on the side as well. At
her suggestion, I asked Elizabeth Wright if she knew anything about the
French meaning of the word, because I could find only one reference in the 5
or 6 large French and French-English dictionaries I consulted--and that
reference seemed to make very little sense.
Here is the result of Elizabeth's research. It certainly does lead to
lots of thought. However, given the arcane nature of the meanings and the
depth of search Elizabeth had to go through, I'm inclined toward thinking
that Priscilla is right that Miss Milligan was indeed making a
transliteration of how the Scots pronounce "birl" as sort of a quiet
laughing at one's self and the pretentions of SCDing. Still, the actual
French meanings and their origins do conjure up lots of interesting images!
I just have my doubts that Miss Milligan or the others at the RSCDS would
have known about them.
Kent Smith (now of Hartford, Connecticut, USA)
>From: "Elizabeth Wright" <xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx.xxx>
>Organization: College of Humanities - SFSU
>To: xxxx.xxxxx@xxxxxxxx.xxx (Kent Smith)
>Date: Tue, 7 Nov 1995 15:24:43 GMT-8
>Subject: Re: French meaning of bourrel
>
>7 November 1995
>
>I found a number of interesting things:
>
> Though "bourrel" is not listed as a modern French word,
>"bourrelet" is and "bourel" (with one r) is found in my Old French
>dictionary with the following meanings:
>
>bourrel I (XII - XIV century)
> 1. bourrelet de casque (which means kind of a circular lining for
> a cap
> 2. harness for a beast of burden
> 3. a woman's hairdo (it is not specified what kind, but there is
> a clue in the modern French "bourrelet" - see later on.
>
>bourrel II (XIV -XVI century) is an old form for "bourreau" -
>executioner or hangman. This is a common pattern, for instance,
>"anel" in old French is the word for "anneau" -ring - in modern
>French.
>
> I think the bourrel I is the most interesting for the dance
>(though I'm sure II would draw a laugh from those who consider the
>"birl," if not the "bourrel," torturous," but anyway the first is
>more interesting when we look at the modern French "bourrelet" which
>is said to derive from the old French "bourrel" (here they spell it
>with two r's), which in turn comes from "bourre" meaning various
>kinds of "stuffing", so that one of the definitions of "bourrelet" is
>that it is generally said of anything both "elongated and puffed out"
>(allonge et bombe), such as hair (so that takes us back to the old
>French hairdo. It is also used to mean the roll of fat one has
>around the waist, what we call a "spare tire"! But anyway, the
>general shape idea to me does recall the "bourrel" figure (actually
>we did a dance with that figure in the general class at the Asilomar
>workshop this Sunday, so I was reminded), in that the 2 circles being
>described simultaneously by the 1st man, 2nd woman and 1st woman, 2nd
>man do seem to me to create something of that kind of shape. The
>modern dictionary also gives "creux" or "hollow" as the antonym for
>"bourrelet".
>
> So anyway I think there does seem to be some reason for the
>French name. It is also interesting because there is a French dance
>baroque step called the "pas de bourree" and a well-known 19th-20th
>century French dance called the "bourree", which don't resemble each
>other very much as far as I can tell, and whose name I assume comes
>from the word "stuffed" but I can't really figure out how the name
>applies to either the step or the dance. However, I guess that is
>another question for another discussion list. I haven't found out
>anything about the origin of that one yet.
>
> So, hope this provides you with something to think about, anyway!
>
> Elizabeth Wright
> xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx.xxx
>
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On Thu, 9 Nov 1995, Kent Smith wrote: (snip) > As faithful readers of the strathspey list know, there has been a > continuing and now unraveling thread on strathspey about "birl" vs "bourrel" (snip) > >From: "Elizabeth Wright" <xxxxxxx@xxxxxx.xxxx.xxx> (snip) > > So anyway I think there does seem to be some reason for the > >French name. It is also interesting because there is a French dance > >baroque step called the "pas de bourree" and a well-known 19th-20th > >century French dance called the "bourree", which don't resemble each > >other very much as far as I can tell, and whose name I assume comes > >from the word "stuffed" but I can't really figure out how the name > >applies to either the step or the dance. However, I guess that is > >another question for another discussion list. I haven't found out > >anything about the origin of that one yet. Pas de bourree in classical ballet is the similar to the "grapevine" step in folk dancing (Israeli) or aerobic dancing. In the Glasgow Highlanders setting step, the "behind, side, in front" are part of a bourree movement. I can't relate this movement to a hollow circle or stuffed concept, but the "grapevine" idea does express the pattern of this movement with feet being placed like alternating leaves on a grapevine. Musically speaking (I'm quoting, not an authority) a bourree denotes a dance in 2/4 time. Maybe bourree and bourrelet/bourel are moved apart in meaning from bourree? Sorry to have added confusion to this discussion, ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Priscilla Burrage (xxxxxxxxx.xxxxxxx@xxx.xxx) Vermont USA (xxxxxxxx@xxxxx.xxx.xxx)