Etymologically
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échec

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /e.ʃɛk/[1]

Forms

échec m (plural échecs)[1] Old French eschac (plural eschas, about 1165), eschec, échec from 1611.[2][3][4] The final ⟨c⟩ of the plural échecs (the game) was long silent.[2]

Etymology

It is an alteration of Old French eschac (compare Medieval Latin scacus (“chessman”), 11th century),[2][3][5][6] first the cry with which a player warned that his opponent's king was threatened; it comes through Arabic شَاه (šāh) from Persian شاه (šāh, “king”), as in “šāh māt” “the king is dead” (see mat), probably by way of Spain.[2][3][5][4] The final ⟨c⟩ may be due to a crossing with Old French eschec (“booty”) (1080), from Frankish *skāk.[2][3][5]

P. Guiraud doubted the route from Persia to the West and took the word from that Frankish “*skāk” “booty, capture”, the aim of the game being to capture the king.[3] Compare Italian scacco and Spanish jaque.[5][7] English chess and English check go back to Old French “eschec”.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has As tables juent… e as eschecs, they play at tables and at chess;[2][3] Chrétien de Troyes (1174–1180) uses eschés for the chessmen.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the singular eschec was the position of a king or queen under threat (Floire et Blancheflor, about 1170: Et dist eskec), and eschec et mat was already figurative in the 13th century (Roman de la Rose).[2][5][8] Classical French used donner échec et mat à qqn (1606) for “to defeat”.[3]

From about 1223 (Gautier de Coinci) it meant an obstacle, embarrassment, whence faire échec à, tenir en échec and the usual modern sense, “failure, setback”.[2][3] In modern French échec serves as the noun of échouer, though the two are unrelated, and is not felt to be the same word as the game.[3][7] Psychology has névrose d'échec, and schools échec scolaire.[2][9] The derivative échiquier (about 1160) also named the royal treasury, whence English Exchequer.[3][5]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Eschecs “chess” in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1160 – Eschaquier.[3]
  • c. 1165 – Eschas.[2]
  • c. 1170 – Eschec “check”.[2]
  • 1174–1180 – The chessmen, in Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • c. 1223 – “Obstacle, setback”, in Gautier de Coinci.[2]
  • 1611 – The spelling échec.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A failure, setback: subir un échec, échec scolaire.[9][1]
  2. Faire échec à, tenir en échec: to thwart, hold in check.[9][4]
  3. (chess) Check: échec au roi, échec et mat: checkmate.[1][9]
  4. (plural) Chess; the chessmen: jouer aux échecs.[7][2]

Interjection

  1. Check![1][4]

Word family

  • échiquier
  • échiquier

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 19, 166a
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)