dailyTangents.com
Voltaire's Philosophical Dictionary
1764
CONTENTS ... Index
* Preface
* Adultery
* Advocate
* Ancients and Moderns
* Animals
* Antiquity
* Arts
* Astrology
* Atheism
* Authority
* Authors
* Banishment
* Bankruptcy
* Beauty
* Bishop
* Books
* Bouleverd
* Bourges
* Brahmins
* Character
* Charlatan
* Civil Laws
* Climate
* Common Sense
* Concatenation of Events
* Contradictions
* Corn
* Cromwell
* Customs
* Democracy
* Destiny
* Devout
* Ecclesiastical Ministry
* Emblem
* English Theatre, on the
* Envy
* Equality
* Expiation
* Extreme
* Ezourveidam
* Faith
* False Minds
* Fatherland
* Final Causes
* Fraud
* Free-will
* French
* Friendship
* God
* Helvetia
* History
* Ignorance
* Impious
* Joan of Arc
* Kissing
* Languages
* Laws
* Liberty
* Library
* Limits of the Human Mind
* Local Crimes
* Love
* Luxury
* Man
* Man in the Iron Mask
* Marriage
* Master
* Men of Letters
* Metamorphosis
* Milton, on the Reproach of Plagiarism Against
* Mohammedans
* Mountain
* Nakedness
* Natural Law
* Nature
* Necessary
* New Novelties
* Philosopher
* Power, Omnipotence
* Prayers
* Précis of Ancient Philosophy
* Prejudices
* Rare
* Reason
* Religion
* Sect
* Self-esteem
* Soul
* States, Governments
* Superstition
* Tears
* Theist
* Tolerance
* Truth
* Tyranny
* Virtue
* Why?
* Declaration of Admirers, Questioners and Doubters
... LINKS & RESOURCES
BOULEVERD OR BOULEVART
Boulevart, fortification, rampart. Belgrade is the boulevart of the
Ottoman Empire on the Hungarian side. Who would believe that this word
originally signified only a game of bowls? The people of Paris played
bowls on the grass of the rampart; this grass was called the verd,
like the grass market. On boulait sur le verd. From there it comes
that the English, whose language is a copy of ours in almost all the
words which are not Saxon, have called the game of bowls
"bowling-green," the verd (green) of the game of bowls. We have taken
back from them what we had lent them. Following their example, we gave
the name of boulingrins, without knowing the strength of the word, to
the grass-plots we introduced into our gardens.
I once heard two good dames who were going for a walk on the
Bouleverd, and not on the Boulevart. People laughed at them, and
wrongly. But in all matters custom carries the day; and everyone who is
right against custom is hissed or condemned.
