étable

Forms

étable f (plural étables)^[1] Old French estable, also estavle; written étable since 1636.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French estable, inherited from Vulgar Latin *stabula, probably a collective plural, taken as a feminine singular, of the classical Latin stabulum (“a place to stay, stable, fold”),^[4][5][2][3] from stō (“to stand, stay”).^[3][6][2] The Latin word meant a stopping place, a lodging or inn, and in country speech a byre, stable or fold; the Romance languages kept only the last sense.^[2][7]

Cognate with Italian stabbio (“sheepfold, dung”), Spanish establo and Old Occitan estable, masculine in the south.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Brut (about 1155) has estable, in the sense of a horse stable.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

For a long time the word also meant a stable for horses, a use kept in several regions; hence the 17th-century phrase étable à tous chevaux “a thing for every use”, also “a prostitute”, now forgotten.^[2][7] The current sense, a shed for cattle, is recorded about 1190 in the Sermons of Saint Bernard (estavle).^[3]

Old and Middle French also took up Latin senses, “inn” (13th century), “dwelling” (15th century) and “shed” (about 1556), all gone by the 17th century.^[2] In the 16th century it was often masculine.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – Estable appears in Wace's Brut.^[4]
• c. 1190 – The Sermons of Saint Bernard use estavle for a cattle shed.^[3]
• 13th century – Used for an inn.^[2]
• 15th century – Used for a dwelling.^[2]
• c. 1556 – Used for a shed.^[2]
• 1636 – Monet writes étable.^[3][2]
• 17th century – Étable à tous chevaux is in use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cowshed or byre, a building where livestock, especially cattle, are kept.^[8][6]
2. (regional) A stable for horses.^[2][8]
3. Les étables d'Augias: the Augean stables, and figuratively a very dirty place or a corrupt business.^[6]
4. (astronomy, dated) A small constellation at the heart of Cancer.^[6]

Related words

• établir
• stable
• Latin stabulum

Usage notes

Littré also lists a masculine étable, a sailors' term for the forward continuation of a ship's keel where it begins to curve, as in s'aborder de franc étable “to ram each other head on”; he derives it from Germanic words for the stem, with the ⟨l⟩ taken from étable “stable”.^[6][9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 222b
6. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 194a