Baron

From: Julian Lord <jlord_at_free.fr>
Date: Sat, 22 Feb 2003 18:35:12 +0100


Peter :

> >but what is the origin for Baron?
>
> Obscure.

The modern word is derived from Old French Ber, Baron ; Ber being Nominative, Baron Objective case.

The apparent obscurity comes from the fact that there were several different words that were conflated into this one, from several dialects of OF, and possibly from other languages, including some possibly spelt *Bar not Ber, including one meaning a dart head.

Some confusion arises from the fact that Gaulish was actually pretty close to Latin, and there may have been a similar word in that language or not (don't know, and don't know if anyone does).

The original OF meaning of the word is man, husband, fighter, tough guy, etc.

Also means powerful, virile, strong, although it seems clear that this sense is derived from the first one.

Bit like calling someone a "man" in modern English.

> Everybody thinks it's a french form of a old german word.

Nope. Most people think it's originally Vulgate Latin.

> However the word in question "Baro" ("bearer") does not exist in any
> surviving text

According to my dictionary, it's in Cicero, de finibus 2, 76, meaning lout, and later (7th c.) in Isidorus meaning mercenary.

> (although cognates can be found in other languages.

In OF texts (esp. La Chanson de Roland), the word is used to designate either strong men or
powerfully noble ones : never farm labourers ...

> The
> word gets its sense from the original meaning of a bearer of burdens
> drifting into a sense of a strong man.

Possibly.

But the modern sense of the word as a title of nobility is derived from the historic OF meaning of the word, ie man, husband, fighter, tough guy, etc., or powerful, virile, strong when used as an adjective.

It's always a laudatory term in the OF texts.

> "Baro" appears to be based on
> the latin "Baro" ("simpleton").

Baro is not a French word, and it's exactly the sort of simple yet powerful word that leads to semantic mercuriality, viz. various meanings of the word "man" in modern English.

Julian Lord

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