aborder

Forms

aborder^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French a- + bord + -er, in both senses of the noun: “side of a ship” and “shore”.^[2][3][4] The noun is from Frankish *bord (“side of a ship”).^[5][6][7]

Meyer-Lübke lists it under the Germanic word, beside Italian bordo and Occitan bord.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1306 in Guillaume Guiart's Royaux lignages, as a naval term meaning “to ram a ship in order to attack or board it”: the French galleys “have already boarded several” (ja en ont pluseurs abordees) of the Saracen ones.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From bord “side of a ship” came the sense “to strike a ship to attack it, to board it”, then “to collide with a ship by accident” (1676).^[4][2] With bord “shore”, aborder à and then aborder a place meant “to reach land” (14th century), and “to bring ashore” is recorded in 1416–18.^[4][2] The maritime idea then faded, leaving the ideas of attacking, approaching and reaching something other than a ship or a shore.^[2]

“To go up to someone and speak to them” dates from 1549, preceded by aborder ensemble “to have carnal relations” (1424), which disappeared before the classical period.^[4] With an abstract object (a question, a subject) the verb has meant “to begin dealing with” since 1798.^[4]

Timeline

• 1306 – Guillaume Guiart uses it of galleys boarding enemy ships.^[2]
• 14th century – Aborder à “to reach the shore” appears.^[4][3]
• 1416–18 – Used for “to bring ashore”.^[2]
• 1424 – Aborder ensemble “to have relations”.^[4]
• 1549 – First record of “to accost someone”.^[4]
• 1676 – Used for an accidental collision between ships.^[4]
• 1798 – Used with an abstract object, “to tackle (a subject)”.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (nautical, transitive) To come alongside a ship, to board or ram it; to collide with a ship by accident.^[3][1]
2. (intransitive) To reach the shore, to land: aborder dans une île.^[3][9]
3. (transitive) To reach a shore or place, especially a difficult one.^[3]
4. To go up to someone in order to speak to them; to accost.^[3][1]
5. (figurative) To start dealing with a subject or situation, to tackle: aborder un sujet.^[3][1]
6. Of a vehicle or driver, to take a tricky part of the road: aborder un virage.^[3]

Word family

• abord
• abordage
• abordable

Related words

• bord
• déborder

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 180a
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette