amirauté

Forms

amirauté f (plural amirautés)^[1] Earlier ameirauté (13th–14th century); amirauté from the early 17th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French amiral + -auté.^[2][4][5] The GLLF derives it from amiraut, an old form of the base noun.^[6] That noun had many medieval forms, among them amiré, amirant and amirail, and is from Arabic أمير (ʔamīr, “commander”), with an ending that is not well explained.^[7][1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as ameirauté in the Chroniques de Londres (1260–1344), meaning the office of an admiral: Lors le roy ousta ledit Hamon de s'ameirauté (“then the king removed the said Hamon from his admiralty”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1373 an ordinance used it for the jurisdiction over seafarers, the court that tried maritime cases.^[2][5] The modern form appears in Agrippa d'Aubigné: Le roi lui donna l'amirauté (“the king gave him the admiralty”).^[2][5] Rey dates the sense “high naval command” to 1624, and the sense “body of admirals” to the 20th century.^[3]

A royal ordinance of 1824 set up a conseil d'Amirauté, and the word came to mean the higher administration of the navy.^[2] The office of admiral was already an old sense in Littré's time.^[2] Today the word is used above all of the British Admiralty, as in premier lord de l'Amirauté.^[2][4]

Timeline

• 1260–1344 – Ameirauté “office of admiral” in the Chroniques de Londres.^[2]
• 1373 – It names the jurisdiction over seafarers.^[2]
• 1605 – The form amirauté is recorded.^[9][3]
• 1624 – It means the high naval command.^[3]
• 1718 – Vice-amirauté is recorded.^[3]
• 1824 – A conseil d'Amirauté is set up.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The admiralty: the high command of the navy and the body of admirals; also the building where it sits.^[4][10][6]
2. (chiefly United Kingdom) The British Admiralty: premier lord de l'Amirauté, formerly the British minister of the navy.^[2][4]
3. (historical) A court that judged maritime cases.^[5][6]
4. (dated) The office or rank of admiral.^[4][5][6]

Word family

• vice-amirauté

Related words

• amiral
• émir

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 19, 4b
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)