Il y aura à boire ? Les boissons dans le langage d’Aristide Bruant
There Will be to Drink? Drinks in the Language of Aristide Bruant

Summary/Abstract: In this paper, I will analyse slang terms related to different types of drinks in the lyrics of songs and in the French-argot dictionary (with Léon Drouin de Bercy) by famous French singer, writer, and cabaret owner Aristide Bruant (1851-1925). Although their dictionary can be criticised from the point of view of today’s lexicography, its undeniable advantages – such as the number of slang equivalents, the abundance of quotes, etc. – make it an important dictionary of its time. Bruant’s work, including his songs, can be considered as a corpus particularly appealing to linguists interested in the 19th-century Paris slang. According to my hypothesis, this vocabulary can be divided into two groups, namely slang terms for different types of drinks as well as words with various meanings created with the help of semantic processes based on the imagery of drinking.

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