échalier

Forms

échalier m (plural échaliers)^[1] Also spelled échallier.^[2] Old French eschalier, Middle French eschallier (1530).^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French eschalier, inherited from Latin scālārium (“staircase”),^[3][5][1][6] a Late Latin derivative of the adjective scālāris (“of a staircase”),^[5] itself from scāla (“ladder”) with the place suffix -ārium.^[7]

It is a doublet of escalier, which comes from the same Latin word.^[5][1][8] The Académie calls it a regional doublet of the West and the Centre.^[8] According to Bloch and Wartburg, the word for “staircase” was borrowed from Occitan (1545), while the Old French word did not mean “staircase” and lived on only in western dialects for a small ladder or a barrier between fields.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as eschalier about 1180, in the Proverbe au vilain, where the TLFi and the DHLF give it the sense “staircase” or “ladder”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

From the sense “ladder” the word came to mean a rough ladder for climbing over a hedge (1530, Palsgrave's eschallier, glossed by the English stile).^[3][5][2] By likeness of shape it was applied about 1534 to a fence of interwoven branches, or to a movable barrier closing a field.^[5][2]

It is used above all in regions such as the Centre, where fields are bounded by hedges.^[5] George Sand's peasants cross the country par les échaliers in Les Maîtres sonneurs (1853).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – Eschalier “staircase” appears in the Proverbe au vilain.^[3][4]
• c. 1307 – Guillaume Guiart uses eschaliers.^[2][10]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records eschallier as a stile over a hedge.^[3][2]
• c. 1534 – Bonaventure Des Périers uses it for a field fence.^[2][5]
• 1853 – George Sand uses it in Les Maîtres sonneurs.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated or regional) A stile: a rough ladder or steps of wooden bars set in or against a hedge so that people can cross it.^[3][11][8]
2. A movable barrier closing the entrance to a field: ouvrir l'échalier du pré.^[11][8][12]
3. A fence of interwoven branches that keeps cattle out of or inside a field.^[3][10][8]

Related words

• escalier
• échelle
• Latin scālārium

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 271a
7. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
8. ^ a b c d e Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
9. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)