échoir

Forms

échoir^[1] Old French escheoir; the spellings écheoir and échoir date from the 17th century.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French escheoir, inherited from Vulgar Latin *excadō (“to fall out”), a remodelling of Latin excidō (“to fall out, to happen”) after the simple verb cadō (“to fall”).^[3][4][5][6] The simple verb gave choir.^[3][5] The literal sense “to fall” was lost everywhere in Romance.^[4][5]

Cognate with Italian scadere “to fall due” and “to decline”, Old Occitan escazer and archaic Spanish escaecer “to decline”.^[4][5] The English escheat comes, through Anglo-French, from the Old French noun eschete, a use of the feminine past participle of the verb.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1135, in the Couronnement de Louis, in the sense “to fall to someone, be allotted”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From 1160–74 (Wace) it was used impersonally for “to happen, occur”.^[3][4] In legal language si le cas y échoit or s'il y échet meant “if the occasion arises”, a formula now gone;^[4][8] the present participle survives in le cas échéant “if need be”, recorded in 1804.^[3] From 1670 the verb also meant to fall due, of a payment or a term.^[3][4]

The verb became defective, used only in the third person, the infinitive and the compound tenses.^[4] Its present participle gave échéance (about 1220), which meant an inheritance until the end of the Middle Ages and later the date on which a payment falls due.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1135 – First record, in the Couronnement de Louis, in the sense “to fall to someone”.^[3]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses it impersonally for “to happen”.^[3][4]
• c. 1220 – The derivative escheance appears.^[4]
• 1670 – Patru uses it for “to fall due”.^[3]
• 1804 – Le cas échéant is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fall to someone, by lot, chance or inheritance: échoir en partage.^[9][3]
2. Of a payment or a term, to fall due: le loyer échoit le premier du mois.^[9][1]
3. (obsolete, law) Si le cas y échoit, s'il y échet: if the occasion arises (now le cas échéant).^[9][8]
4. (literary, dated) To befall, happen by chance.^[2][1]

Word family

• échéant
• échéance

Related words

• choir
• déchoir
• Latin cadō
• English escheat

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b 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 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d 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. 3, 262b
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert