allure

Forms

allure f (plural allures)^[1] Old French aleüre (1170), contracted early to alure (1174); Middle French alleure (15th century); allure is a remaking of 1530.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from French aller + -ure.^[2][5][1] Littré thought that the old form aleüre supposes Late Latin *alatura.^[4] The verb aller comes from Latin ambulō (“to walk about”), whose reduced form arose in popular Latin, perhaps in military commands.^[5] By now the noun is largely cut off from its source in speakers' minds.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert dates aleüre to 1170; the GLLF gives 1138, in the Vie de saint Gilles.^[2][6] It first meant the manner of walking or moving forward, of people and animals.^[3] In the Life of Thomas Becket (12th century) grant alure means “at great speed”: Grant alure s'en est à la porte venuz “he came at great speed to the gate”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “action of going, moving about” dates from the 13th century, and the specialised sense of a horse's gait from the 16th (Ronsard).^[3] Old French also used alure for a gallery or walkway along the top of a building or wall, as in the Livres des Rois (12th century).^[4][1] By metonymy it named the tracks of a hunted animal (about 1390).^[3] The adverbial grant aleure (12th–16th century) lived on as de grande allure (1549) until the 17th century, and de petite aleure “slowly” (1180) also died out.^[3]

From allures “a person's way of behaving” (16th century, Montaigne) came “outward appearance” (late 18th century) and avoir de l'allure “to have style” (1885).^[3] The word was also used for the course of events (1748) and the turn an affair takes (1798); avoir des allures (1743) meant to carry on love affairs.^[3] The sense “speed of a vehicle” (1863) probably led to à toute allure “as fast as possible” (about 1930); in sailing it is the way a ship holds relative to the wind (1740, Jal).^[3]

Timeline

• 1138 – Aleüre in the Vie de saint Gilles, according to the GLLF.^[6]
• 1170 – Aleüre, alure in 1174.^[2]
• 13th century – “The action of going”.^[3]
• 16th century – A horse's gaits (Ronsard); a person's ways (Montaigne).^[3]
• 1530 – The remade spelling allure.^[3]
• 1740 – The sailing sense, in Jal.^[3]
• 1863 – The speed of a vehicle.^[3]
• 1885 – Avoir de l'allure.^[3]
• c. 1930 – À toute allure.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. speed, pace: filer à vive allure, à toute allure, at top speed.^[7][6]
2. A way of walking or moving, gait; the gaits of a horse (walk, trot, gallop).^[7][4]
3. (sailing) The direction a ship sails in relative to the wind.^[7][1]
4. A way of behaving; outward look, bearing: avoir de l'allure, to look distinguished.^[7][3]
5. The course or turn that things take.^[4][3]
6. (architecture) A wall walk behind battlements.^[1]

Related words

• aller
• allée
• Latin ambulō

References

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