étalon

étalon¹ stallion

Pronunciation

• /e.ta.lɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

étalon m (plural étalons)^[1] Old French estalon; the spelling étalon is recorded from 1680.^[2][3]

Etymology

The word for the stallion is inherited from Old French estalon, inherited from Frankish *stallo (“horse kept in the stable”),^[4][5][1][6] derived from *stall (“stable”): the breeding stallion was usually kept in the stable and not put to work.^[4][7][8] The Frankish noun is also behind étal and stalle, and Latin stabulum, the source of étable, corresponds to it.^[5][2]

Cognate with Italian stallone and the Berry dialect form atelon.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Estalon is first recorded about 1211 in Guillaume le Clerc's Bestiaire, for an uncastrated horse kept for breeding: El haraz n'a qu'un estalon “the stud has only one stallion”.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

From the horse the word passed to the male breeder of any domestic species (1538), and in 1864 Littré records it in apposition, as in âne étalon.^[5][4] By analogy fruit growers speak of an arbre-étalon, a selected tree from which grafts are taken.^[3][5] In familiar use it has meant a man eager for sexual pleasure since 1611.^[5][1]

The verb étalonner “to cover (a mare)” (1606 as estellonner, 1611) and the noun étalonnier, first found in 1567 for a man in charge of stallions and revived in the 19th century, are derived from it.^[5][4]

Timeline

• c. 1211 – Estalon “stallion” in Guillaume le Clerc's Bestiaire.^[4][5]
• 1538 – Used of the male breeder of other species.^[5]
• 1567 – Etalonier “keeper of stallions” in Baïf.^[4]
• 1611 – Used of a man eager for pleasure;^[5] étalonner “to cover” is recorded.^[5]
• 1680 – The spelling étalon is found.^[2][7]
• 1864 – Littré records âne étalon.^[4][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stallion, an uncastrated horse kept for breeding: étalon pur-sang, étalon arabe.^[3][4]
2. Étalon rouleur: a stallion taken from farm to farm by its owner to cover mares.^[4][7]
3. The male breeder of another domestic species, often in apposition: âne étalon, taureau étalon.^[3][5]
4. (arboriculture) Arbre-étalon: a selected tree from which scions are taken.^[3]
5. (familiar) A sexually vigorous man.^[1][5]

Word family

• étalonnier

étalon² standard (measure)

Pronunciation

• /e.ta.lɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

étalon m (plural étalons)^[1] Old French estalon, estelon, estolon, estaillon.^[5][2][10]

Etymology

The word for the standard of measure is inherited from Old French estalon (also estelon), at first a Picard word,^[2][3] a derivative from Old French estal (“post, stake”) (also estel, late 12th century).^[5][3] That noun comes from Frankish *stalo or *stelo, reconstructed from Middle Dutch stale (“post”), stele (“handle, stem”) and Dutch stel.^[5][11] Wiktionary traces the Frankish word to Proto-Germanic *staluz.^[1]

The origin of the sense “standard of measure” is uncertain.^[5] It is found in Medieval Latin as stalonnus (1275) and stalo (1282), and Middle Dutch stael (“sample, model”) suggests an etymon meaning “measuring model”, whose link with the word for the post is unclear.^[5][12] Pierre Guiraud took them to be one word: a post or graduated rod would have become a gauge, the model from which a measure is reproduced, as the stallion reproduces a line.^[5] Littré linked it with Old French estaillon “stake of a cart” and Old High German stihil (“stake”), a rod having served as the standard for lengths, and compared the English word standard, which means both a standard and a banner.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Estalon or estelon, about 1180, meant a post or stake, a sense the word has not kept:^[5][2] in the Roman d'Alexandre a duke is hanged from un des estalons dont la porte ert fermee “one of the posts by which the gate was closed”.^[10][9]

Semantic evolution

In the 14th century it named a sapling of the age of the last felling, left standing in a cut wood (1340–1341).^[5][3] From 1606 it was a carpenter's term for a peg joining two timbers fitted into mortises, and for a board laid on the ground on which the carpenter drew out a frame.^[5][3]

The sense now usual, the legal model that defines a unit of measure or its material form, appears in 1322.^[5][3] From the 19th century it was used of the metal on which the value of a currency rests (Balzac, 1846), as in étalon-or and étalon-argent.^[5] In the early 20th century it became a literary word for a model or archetype.^[5]

The verb étalonner “to check a measure against the standard” is recorded from 1390, and later “to graduate an instrument” (1690); étalonnage follows in 1458.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – Estalon, estelon “post, stake”.^[5][2]
• 1275 – Medieval Latin stalonnus is used for a standard measure.^[5]
• 1322 – Estalon “standard of measure” is first recorded.^[5][3]
• 1340–1341 – It names a sapling left at the last felling.^[5]
• 1390 – Estalonner “to check against the standard”.^[5]
• 1606 – A carpenter's peg; the spelling étalon is found.^[5][2]
• 1846 – Balzac uses it of a monetary standard.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A legal standard defining a unit of measure, or the object that embodies it, often in apposition: mètre étalon, kilogramme étalon.^[3][4]
2. (economics) The metal on which the value of a currency is based: étalon-or.^[5][4]
3. (figurative) A model or reference by which other things are judged, an archetype.^[3][5][1]
4. (carpentry) A peg joining two timbers set in mortises.^[3][5]
5. (forestry) A sapling of the age of the last felling.^[3][5]

Word family

• étalonner
• étalonnage
• étalonnement
• étalonneur
• réétalonner