Bocage of the Boulonnais (Boulogne-sur-Mer region)

Bocage is a Norman word which has entered both the French and English languages. It may refer to a small forest, a decorative element of leaves, a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture, or a type of rubble-work, comparable with the English use of 'rustic' in relation to garden ornamentation. Boulogne-sur-Mer is a city and commune in northern France, in the Pas-de-Calais département of which it is a sous-préfecture. ... Norman is a Romance language and one of the Oïl languages. ...

Etymology

Bocage perhaps derives from the antiquated French Boscage, a pleasant, small wood. The boscage form was used in English, for leafy decoration such as is found on eighteenth century porcelain. The more distant derivation might be from the old French word bosc, meaning wood (the landscape feature) but similar words appear in Scandinavian and other Germanic languages so leaving the suspicion that the apparent late Latin derivation comes ultimately from the Scandinavian language which became Norman French. The boscage form seems to have developed its meaning under the influence of eighteenth century romanticism. Romantics redirects here. ...

The bocage form of the word came to English notice during the Second World War. It refers to a terrain of mixed woodland and pasture, with tortuous side-roads and lanes bounded on both sides by banks surmounted with high thick hedgerows which limit visibility. It is the sort of landscape found in England in Devon. In Normandy, it acquired a particular significance during the Battle of Normandy, as it made progress against an entrenched opposition extremely difficult. American soldiers also referred to bocage as 'hedgerows'. Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000... For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Devon (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Normandy (disambiguation). ... This article is about the assault phase of Operation Overlord. ... For other meanings, see hedge. ...

The 1934 Nouveau Petit Larousse defined bocage as 'a bosquet, a little wood, an agreeably shady wood' and a bosquet as a little wood, a clump of trees'. By 2006, the Petit Larousse definition had become '(Norman word) Region where the fields and meadows are enclosed by earth banks carrying hedges or rows of trees and where the habitation is generally dispersed in farms and hamlets.' A dispersed settlement is one of the main types of settlement pattern used by landscape historians to classify rural settlements found in England. ...

See also

• Boscage
• Villers-Bocage
• Manuel Maria Barbosa du Bocage, Portuguese poet (1765–1805)
• José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage, Portuguese zoologist and politician (1823–1907)

Villers-Bocage is a town and commune in France, in the Calvados département, in Normandy. ... Manuel Maria Barbosa de Bocage (1765-1805), Portuguese poet, was a native of Setubal. ... A poet is a person who writes poetry. ... Year 1765 (MDCCLXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... Thomas Jefferson. ... José Vicente Barbosa du Bocage (1823, Funchal, Madeira - 1907, Lisbon, Portugal) was a Portuguese zoologist and politician. ... Zoology (Greek zoon = animal and logos = word) is the biological discipline which involves the study of animals. ... The Politics series Politics Portal This box:      A politician is an individual who is a formally recognized and active member of a government, or a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. ... 1823 was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... Year 1907 (MCMVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

References

• Oxford English Dictionary
• Nouveau Petit Larousse Illustré (1934)
• Petit Larousse Illustré 2007 (2006)

The Oxford English Dictionary print set The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP), and is the most successful dictionary of the English language, (not to be confused with the one-volume Oxford Dictionary of English, formerly New Oxford Dictionary of English, of... Le Petit Larousse is a French-language reference book (although a Spanish-language version is also published) first appearing in 1905 and later published in a 100th anniversary edition in 2005. ...

External links

• Where the Normandy Bocage is to be found.