épisser

Forms

épisser (transitive verb)^[1][2] Older spelling espisser, recorded from 1516.^[3][4] The spelling épisser is found from 1677.^[5][2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Dutch splissen (“to splice”), a sailors' word of the same meaning.^[3][4][6] The loss of the /l/ is unexplained: the TLFi and Rey suggest a borrowing from a variant *spissen, comparing Low German spiessen of the same sense, after Kluge,^[3][4] while Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF leave it unexplained.^[6][5] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert call it an alteration of a Dutch splisten or of German splissen.^[1][2]

The Dutch verb belongs to the family of German spleißen (“to split”).^[6] The English nautical verb splice is a borrowing of the same Middle Dutch word.^[7] Littré compared Dutch splitsen, Old High German splīzan and Icelandic splita (“to split”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1516, as espisser, in Norman naval documents that mention four iron pins à espisser cordages, for splicing ropes.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The verb has kept the sense of its Dutch source, the joining of two rope ends by interweaving their strands.^[4] By analogy it was applied in the 20th century to joining electric conductors and wire cables in the same way, a sense the GLLF dates to 1948.^[3][5] Its derivatives épissure (1677), the splice itself, and épissoir (1678), the marlinspike used to make it, belong to the same nautical vocabulary.^[4][6]

Timeline

• 1516 – Espisser appears in Norman naval documents.^[3][4]
• 1520s – English splice is first recorded, from the same Middle Dutch verb.^[7]
• 1631 – The date Bloch and Wartburg and the Robert dictionaries give for espisser.^[6][1][2]
• 1677 – The spelling épisser and the noun épissure are recorded.^[5][2][4]
• 1678 – Épissoir is recorded.^[4][6]
• 1948 – The Larousse records the sense “to join electric cables”.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (nautical) To splice: to join two ends of rope by interweaving their strands: Le matelot épisse deux bouts d'aussière.^[3][2][9]
2. (electricity, technology) To join two electric conductors or wire cables by interlacing their ends.^[3][5]

Word family

• épissure
• épissoir

Related words

• English splice

References

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