assembler

Forms

assembler^[1] Old French asembler (about 1040) and asanbler (about 1175).^[2] Anglo-Norman also wrote asambler and assemblier.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French asembler, inherited from Vulgar Latin *assimulō (“to put together”), formed from ad (“to”) and simul (“together”).^[2][4][5][6] Wiktionary links it to the attested Latin assimulō, whose learned borrowing assimiler is its doublet;^[1] Littré notes that the French verb went back to the sense “together” of the Latin adverb.^[7] Rey traces the adverb to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *sem- (“one”), also behind similis and simplex.^[2]

Cognate with Old Occitan assemblar.^[4][7] Italian assembrare was borrowed from French.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Alexis (11th century) has it in the sense “to put together”.^[8][2] In the Chanson de Roland it often means “to join battle, attack”: Asemblet s'est as Sarazins messages.^[7]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the verb was also intransitive or passive, “to come together, be united”, notably in marriage; this use has died out.^[2] As a transitive verb it meant “to gather (people or animals)”, often in an institutional or political setting, as in assemblée; in these uses rassembler later took its place.^[2]

The sense “to put things together” prevailed, mostly of concrete things, with the wider sense “to fit, arrange” from the 13th century.^[2] Technical senses, linked to assemblage, date from Middle French and grew in the 18th and 19th centuries (textiles, bookbinding) and again in the 20th century in computing.^[2] Classical French often used the verb with an abstract object.^[2] English assemble (early 14th century) was taken from Old French.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1040 – First recorded as asembler.^[2]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses it of armies joining battle.^[7]
• c. 1175 – The spelling asanbler is found.^[2]
• 13th century – It takes the wider sense “to fit, arrange”.^[2]
• 1213 – The derivative rassembler is recorded.^[4]
• 1401 – The noun assemblage appears, in a technical sense.^[2]
• early 14th century – English borrows it as assemble.^[9]
• 20th century – It gains a sense in computing.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put things together, to join or combine them: assembler des couleurs, assembler des idées.^[10][11]
2. To gather or collect items so as to form a whole, such as papers or the pieces of a collection.^[10]
3. To fit parts together so that they hold, as in carpentry, machinery or sewing: assembler les pièces d'une armoire.^[10][11][8]
4. (bookbinding) To gather the printed sheets in the right order to make a volume.^[11][7]
5. (computing) To translate a program written in a symbolic language into machine code.^[11]
6. (dance) To bring the feet together, the right heel against the middle of the left foot.^[10][7]
7. (dated) To bring people together in one place, to convene them.^[11][7]
8. s'assembler: to meet, come together.^[11]

Word family

• assemblage
• assemblée
• assembleur
• désassembler
• rassembler

Related words

• assimiler
• ensemble
• sembler
• Latin simul
• English assemble

Usage notes

The proverb qui se ressemble s'assemble (“birds of a feather flock together”) uses the pronominal verb.^[11] The derivative assemblée also names a local festival in parlers from Normandy to Gascony.^[4]

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 m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 25, 541a
7. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ 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