étape

Forms

étape f (plural étapes)^[1] Old French estaple (1272), Middle French estappe (1396) and estape; the spelling étape is recorded by Monet in 1636.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French estappe, inherited from Old French estaple, borrowed from Middle Dutch stapel (“warehouse, market”).^[2][4][5] The Middle French form is an alteration of the Old French one.^[2][4][5] Wiktionary carries the Middle Dutch word back to Old Dutch stapul and Frankish *stapul.^[1] The same Middle Dutch word gave German Stapel and English staple.^[6] The old form survives in the town name Étaples.^[4]

Littré also records estape (“stake”) in Palissy, which he derives separately from the German word for a staff.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Baude Fastoul's Congés (1272) has estaple for the market place or warehouse to which merchants had to bring their goods for sale.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The medieval sense “compulsory market, warehouse” and the sense “trading town” went out of use;^[2][4] Commynes still speaks (1489–1491) of Calais as l'estappe de leurs laynes, the staple of the English wool.^[2][4] By analogy the word named a store of provisions for the army (1546, Rabelais) and, in the 17th century, the food and fodder handed out to troops on the march (1636).^[2][4] From this comes the military phrase brûler l'étape (1706), not stopping at the planned halt, and then brûler les étapes “to go very fast” in the early 20th century.^[4][3]

The modern sense, the place where a traveller or a troop stops before going on, is recorded in the 1760s, in Rousseau and Voltaire.^[2][4][8] In 1833 Balzac used it for the distance between two stops,^[2] and in sport course par étapes dates from 1870; the word is central to cycle races such as the Tour de France.^[4] The figurative sense, a stage in a development, dates from the second half of the 19th century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1272 – Estaple “staple market” in Baude Fastoul's Congés.^[2]
• 1396 – The altered form estappe in the customary of Dieppe.^[2][4]
• 1489–1491 – Commynes uses it of Calais.^[2]
• 1546 – Rabelais uses it for an army's store of provisions.^[2][4]
• 1636 – Monet records the rations given to troops on the march, and the spelling étape.^[2][3]
• 1706 – Brûler l'étape is recorded by Richelet.^[3][4]
• 1766–1768 – Rousseau and Voltaire use it for a stopping place on a journey.^[2][4][8]
• 1833 – Balzac uses it for the distance between two stops.^[2]
• 1870 – The sense in sport is recorded.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A place where one stops on a journey before going on, a halt: faire étape à Lyon.^[8][9][1]
2. The distance covered between two stops, a leg of a journey or of a race: la troisième étape du Tour de France.^[2][8][1]
3. (figurative) A stage or step in a process or a development.^[4][1]
4. Brûler les étapes: to go faster than usual, skipping stages.^[4][8][1]
5. (historical) A market or warehouse to which merchants had to bring their goods, and a trading town.^[8][7]
6. (historical) The rations and fodder given to troops on the march, and the store holding them.^[7][4]

Word family

• étapier

Related words

• Middle Dutch stapel
• English staple

References

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