assemblage

Forms

assemblage m (plural assemblages)^[1] Middle French assemblaige (1493); the spelling assemblage is found from 1585.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French assembler + -age.^{[2][1][4][5][6]} The verb assembler goes back to Vulgar Latin *assimulō (“to put together”), from simul (“together”).^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1493 uses assemblaige in carpentry, of rafters and other timbers fitted together as good workmen should.^[3][2] Rey dates the noun to 1401, in the technical sense of a set of parts brought together to form a whole.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century the word was also used for things put together without order, a shapeless jumble (1606), for letters put together in typesetting (1567), after assembler “to compose type”, and for people, a group (1585).^[7] It came to mean the action of putting things together and, by metonymy, the things so joined, with several technical uses, in building among others from the 18th to the 19th century; modern use implies the aim of a coherent, working whole.^[7] A recent specialization in mathematics and computing is the functional grouping of the parts of a program (1975).^[7]

English borrowed it in 1704 as assemblage, first for a collection of individuals.^[8]

Timeline

• 1493 – Assemblaige is recorded in carpentry.^[3][2]
• 1567 – Used of letters put together in printing.^[7]
• 1585 – The spelling assemblage is found, and the sense “group of people”.^[2][7]
• 1606 – First used for a shapeless jumble.^[7]
• 1704 – English borrows the word.^[8]
• 1975 – First used in computing.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of putting parts together to make a whole, as in the assembly of a machine or a car.^[9][10]
2. (carpentry) A joint, the way pieces are fitted together: assemblage à tenon et mortaise.^[9][5][1]
3. A collection of things put together, often ill-matched.^[9][10][11]
4. (dated, literary) A gathering of people.^[11][5]
5. (bookbinding) The gathering of the sheets of a book in order.^[5][9]
6. (computing) The translation into machine code of a program written in an assembly language, langage d'assemblage.^[9][1]
7. (winemaking) The blending of wines from several grape varieties.^[1][12]

Related words

• assembler
• assemblée
• assembleur
• rassembler
• English assemblage

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 544a
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b 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
12. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org