échelon

Forms

échelon m (plural échelons)^[1] Old French eschelon (late 11th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French échelle + -on, first as eschelon.^[2][4][3][1] That noun is from Latin scāla.^[5] Littré cites the Picard form écaillon and the Provençal escalo.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as eschelon in Rashi's French glosses at the end of the 11th century, for the rung of a ladder.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The figurative sense “that by which one rises or falls from one rank to another” appears in 1319 in Watriquet de Couvin's eschelon d'humilité “step of humility”.^[2][3] From it came “each degree of a series” and, in administration, a position within a grade.^[3][7] The phrase dernier échelon means either the highest or the lowest degree.^[3]

As a military term (1821 in Joseph de Maistre) it named one of the units of a body of troops drawn up in depth;^[2][3] the verb échelonner took the matching sense “to place at intervals” in 1823.^[3] À tous les échelons, at every level of the army from brigade to whole army, is recorded in 1916,^[2] and English took the word as echelon in 1796 for a step-like arrangement of troops, with its sense “level, subdivision” dating from the First World War.^[8]

Timeline

• late 11th century – Eschelon “rung” appears in Rashi's glosses.^[2]
• 1319 – Watriquet de Couvin writes eschelon d'humilité.^[2][3]
• c. 1570 – Carloix uses it for a degree of advancement.^[9]
• 1796 – English borrows it as echellon for an arrangement of troops.^[8]
• 1821 – First military use, in Joseph de Maistre.^[2]
• 1916 – À tous les échelons is recorded of the army.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rung of a ladder; also an iron step fixed in a wall.^[7][10][9]
2. A degree in a series or hierarchy: gravir les échelons.^[7][10][1]
3. A step within the same grade of a civil servant's career, determining pay.^[7][9]
4. A level of an administration or organization: à l'échelon national.^[7]
5. (military) A unit of a body of troops arranged in depth, an echelon.^[2][3]

Word family

• échelonner
• échelonnement

Related words

• échelle
• escale
• Latin scāla
• English echelon

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)