avalanche

Pronunciation

• IPA: /a.va.lɑ̃ʃ/^[1]

Forms

avalanche f (plural avalanches)^[1] Lavanche, lavange (1572) came first;^[2] avallanche (1611) displaced avalange in the 19th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Franco-Provençal avalanche, a word of Savoy recorded at Fribourg in 1487,^[2][3][1] which is the Alpine lavantse reshaped after avaler “to go down” (as in aval “downstream”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Alpine word goes with Old Occitan lavanca and the northern Italian form “lavanca”, whence Italian valanga;^[3][7] its suffix “-anca” is pre-Latin (Ligurian) and common in Alpine place names.^[2][3] The stem may be linked with Late Latin lābīna (“landslide”), from Latin lābor (“to slip”),^[2][4][1] though Bloch and Wartburg think lābīna took the sense “avalanche” from the Alpine word.^[3] Proposals based on lave or Gaulish *lausa (“flat stone”) fit poorly.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cotgrave's dictionary (1611) records avalanche as well as the Savoy form lavanche, for a mass of snow sliding down a mountain.^[8][3]

Semantic evolution

Mountaineering and winter sports spread the word, with phrases such as couloir d'avalanche “avalanche track”.^[2][8] From the mid-19th century it is used figuratively of a great mass of things arriving at once: une avalanche d'injures, de lettres.^[2][9]

Timeline

• 1487 – Savoyard avalanche recorded at Fribourg.^[2]
• 1572 – French lavanche.^[2]
• 1611 – Avallanche in Cotgrave.^[2][3]
• mid-19th century – Figurative uses.^[2]
• 1927 – Avalancheux “prone to avalanches”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An avalanche of snow sliding down a mountainside.^[9][10]
2. A mass of stones, earth or other material falling from a height.^[10]
3. (figurative) A great mass or flood of things: une avalanche de réclamations.^[9][10]

Related words

• avaler
• English avalanche

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 101b
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)