étaler

Forms

étaler^[1] Old French astaler (about 1200) and estaler;^[2][3] Ronsard writes etaller (1550).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French étal + -er, first as Old French astaler “to assign a place to”.^[2][4][1] The noun, Old French estal “position”, is from Frankish *stal (“position, dwelling”), reconstructed from Middle Dutch stal, Old High German stal and German Stall.^[2][5] The early senses of the verb come from the first sense of the noun, the sense “display goods” from its later sense “market stall”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1200, astaler meant “to assign a place to, to install”, in the Dialogues de saint Grégoire.^[2][5] The Aliscans (late 12th century) has estaler “to stop”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the verb also meant “to take up a position for battle”.^[5] The modern sense “to set out goods for sale” appears in the 14th century, matching an older sense of étal, and gave the familiar étaler sa marchandise “to show off what one has” (1694).^[5][2] In 1376–1377 it meant “to show oneself off”, a sense that lives on, chiefly in the reflexive (1652), as “to flaunt”.^[5]

Ronsard uses etaller in 1550 for “to show, to unfold”, and in particular “to parade”, as in étaler ses richesses.^[5][2] The spatial sense “to spread out over a large surface” (1798) gave étaler son jeu “to lay down one's cards”, literally and figuratively.^[5][7] From 1690 étalé describes a person sprawling at ease, and s'étaler follows in 1819, the year it also first means “to fall”.^[2][5] The sense “to spread in a thin layer” dates from 1819 as well, and in the 20th century the verb came to mean “to spread over time” (1932), probably after the noun étalement.^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Astaler “to assign a place to” in the Dialogues de saint Grégoire.^[2]
• 14th century – First used for setting out goods for sale.^[2][5]
• 1376–1377 – Jean Le Fèvre uses it of showing oneself off.^[2]
• 1550 – Ronsard writes etaller for “to show, to unfold”.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records étalé of a person lying at ease.^[2]
• 1694 – Étaler sa marchandise is recorded.^[5]
• 1798 – The Académie records the sense “to spread out”.^[3][5]
• 1819 – Boiste records s'étaler “to fall” and the sense “to spread thinly”.^[2]
• 1932 – Céline uses it of spreading over time.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To set out goods for sale on a stall or in a shop.^[7][2][8]
2. To spread out over a large surface, so as to show each part: papers, a map, a length of cloth;^[7][9] étaler son jeu, to lay down one's cards, also figuratively, to show one's intentions.^[7][9]
3. To spread in a thin layer: paint, butter on bread.^[7][2][1]
4. (familiar) To knock down.^[7][2]
5. To reveal, expose: a newspaper that spreads the details of a scandal across its columns.^[7]
6. (pejorative) To flaunt, to show off: étaler sa science.^[7][1]
7. To spread over time, to stagger: payments, holidays.^[7][5][1]
8. (reflexive) To spread or stretch out; to show oneself off.^[7][1]
9. (reflexive, familiar) To sprawl; to fall flat.^[7][1]

Related words

• étalage
• étalement
• étal
• détaler
• étale

Usage notes

A second verb étaler is a nautical term, derived from the adjective étale “neither rising nor falling”: étaler la marée (1678), to ride at anchor waiting for the turn of the tide, and later to resist the wind or current, to keep a leak from gaining, and intransitively to become slack.^[4][5][7][2] Bloch and Wartburg see the adjective instead as coming from this nautical use of the verb.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 q r s t 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette