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The English word brutal comes from French or medieval Latin brutalis, brutus, meaning dull, stupid. Hence the word "brute". Savagely violent is only one of the

The English word brutal comes from French or medieval Latin brutalis, brutus, meaning dull, stupid. Hence the word "brute". Savagely violent is only one of the meanings of the adjective. It also means "punishingly hard or uncomfortable" or "direct and lacking any attempt to disguise unpleasantness". These latter two meanings of "brutal" seem particularly apt to describe this architectural style; in fact it seems to mirror in the original meaning of "Béton brut" (though I am no speaker of French, so some nuance may be escaping me). So, I'm really not sure that we've gained anything by this "debunking".

dmos62 4y ago
So "beton brut" or "cidre brut" (dry cider) refer to the concrete's or cider's dullness or stupidity? No, they refer to their rawness and crudeness. The original commentor was spot on. By the way, a more complete set of the meanings of Latin brūtus is heavy, unwieldy, dull, stupid, brutish.
- jonnycomputer 4y ago
  "punishingly hard or uncomfortable" or "direct and lacking any attempt to disguise unpleasantness"
- gameman144 4y ago
  Taking brute to mean "unrefined", you can see that it fits into both those definitions and scenarios just fine. An unrefined person is dull, stupid, or violent; an unrefined product is raw, crude, or lacking polish.
SeanLuke 4y ago
Nope. Brutalism refers to concrete, full stop. The author clearly hasn't done due diligence.
- Fricken 4y ago
  It's originally a tongue-in-cheek term, first popularized by British Architects Allison and Peter Smithson. The double entendre was not lost on them. Architects have a sense of humour too.
  - jonnycomputer 4y ago
    Yes, there is no reason that English speakers would adopt "brutalist" merely because some French speaking people used the word "brut" to describe it. People are thinking too narrowly about how and why words are used, names given and popularized.
jerf 4y ago
I see it is a common experience for someone learning a new language as an adult to find the new language they're learning beautiful, because of all the new connections between words and roots... "oh, it's neat how this word for 'child' is from an old root word for 'love', oh it's neat that this word for 'afraid' also carries the connotations of 'dark cave'", etc. It's easy to miss that your birth language has all the same associations. You just learned it and deeply internalized it at a time when you missed that sort of thing. Look at it with fresh eyes and a bit of study and you may be surprised at what similar beauty lies within it. And this is a good example. Yes, the denotation of the English word "brutal" and the architecture term "brutalism" may not be directly connected. But the words considered as a whole are connected, across a family of related European languages, with rich associations going back centuries. It is far from merely "coincidence" that the words are so related. It can be helpful and informative to know that the denotations aren't as related as they may look, but trying to tell people that they're completely unrelated terms is incorrect. There is a complicated, interesting, and even in its own way, beautiful connection between brutalism as an architectural style and brutal as an adjective.

dmos62 4y ago

So "beton brut" or "cidre brut" (dry cider) refer to the concrete's or cider's dullness or stupidity? No, they refer to their rawness and crudeness. The original commentor was spot on. By the way, a more complete set of the meanings of Latin brūtus is heavy, unwieldy, dull, stupid, brutish.

jonnycomputer 4y ago
"punishingly hard or uncomfortable" or "direct and lacking any attempt to disguise unpleasantness"
gameman144 4y ago
Taking brute to mean "unrefined", you can see that it fits into both those definitions and scenarios just fine. An unrefined person is dull, stupid, or violent; an unrefined product is raw, crude, or lacking polish.

SeanLuke 4y ago

Nope. Brutalism refers to concrete, full stop. The author clearly hasn't done due diligence.

Fricken 4y ago
It's originally a tongue-in-cheek term, first popularized by British Architects Allison and Peter Smithson. The double entendre was not lost on them. Architects have a sense of humour too.
- jonnycomputer 4y ago
  Yes, there is no reason that English speakers would adopt "brutalist" merely because some French speaking people used the word "brut" to describe it. People are thinking too narrowly about how and why words are used, names given and popularized.

jerf 4y ago

I see it is a common experience for someone learning a new language as an adult to find the new language they're learning beautiful, because of all the new connections between words and roots... "oh, it's neat how this word for 'child' is from an old root word for 'love', oh it's neat that this word for 'afraid' also carries the connotations of 'dark cave'", etc. It's easy to miss that your birth language has all the same associations. You just learned it and deeply internalized it at a time when you missed that sort of thing. Look at it with fresh eyes and a bit of study and you may be surprised at what similar beauty lies within it. And this is a good example. Yes, the denotation of the English word "brutal" and the architecture term "brutalism" may not be directly connected. But the words considered as a whole are connected, across a family of related European languages, with rich associations going back centuries. It is far from merely "coincidence" that the words are so related. It can be helpful and informative to know that the denotations aren't as related as they may look, but trying to tell people that they're completely unrelated terms is incorrect. There is a complicated, interesting, and even in its own way, beautiful connection between brutalism as an architectural style and brutal as an adjective.