faire l'école buissonnière

French

Etymology

Literally, "Make school (hidden) in bushes". Where the idiom comes from is quite unclear. There are three possibilities:

1) the idiom is related to the verb buissonner, and metaphorically going on an adventure in the forest among shrubs and bushes instead of attending school.

2) according to Swiss philologist and lexicographer Walther von Wartburg, the idiom is related to Martin Luther and Lutheranism. In the 16th century, Lutheran priests struggled to preach the new religion in public. Thus, they started giving their teaching in the hinterland and in the woods (whence "buisson").

3) according to French linguist and lexicographer Alain Rey, the idiom comes from the following sentence attributed to Clément Marot: « Vray est qu'elle fust buissonnière, l'escole de ceux de Pavie ». This sentence refers to prelates who in 1423 refused to attend the council of Pavia because of the plague that hit the city.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɛʁ l‿e.kɔl bɥi.sɔ.njɛʁ/

Verb

faire l’école buissonnière

1. (somewhat dated) to play truant, to play hooky, to skip class, to ditch, to bunk, to mitch

   Synonyms: sécher, (Belgium) brosser, (Moselle) faire bleu, (Switzerland) schwänzer, (France) buissonner

Further reading

• "faire l'école buissonnière", Dictionnaire des francophones [1]
• Dictionnaire des expressions et locutions, Alain Rey and Sophie Chantreau (page 448) [2]