bâtiment

Forms

bâtiment m (plural bâtiments)^[1] Old French bastiment; the spelling with the circumflex follows bâtir (1680).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French bâtir + -ment, Old French bastiment, from bastir.^[2][4][5][1] It corresponds to Old Occitan bastiment, recorded in 1174.^[3][6]

The verb bâtir is, on the most widely held view, from Frankish *bastjan, properly “to work hemp threads”, which gave sewing senses and then “to build” through fences of interwoven stakes;^[3][5] Medieval Latin of Provence has bastimentum (“fortification, castle”) about 1020.^[3] Bloch and Wartburg compare Old High German besten (“to lace”) and Italian imbastire (“to tack”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie (after 1174) uses bastiment for the act of building: carpenters and masons had made granz bastimenz in little time.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The sense “act of building”, also figurative, lasted until the 17th century.^[3][7] The concrete sense “building, edifice” appears in a Judaeo-French text of 1187 and again in 1317, but stays rare before the 16th century, when it won out.^[2][3][5]

By metaphor the word passed into the navy: Oudin (1660) records bastimens for the fitting-out of ships, and Colbert (1662) uses it of the ships themselves, especially large ones.^[2][3] It also names the building trades as a whole: the Académie records ouvriers en bâtiment in 1835, and peintre en bâtiment dates from the same year.^[2][3] The proverb quand le bâtiment va, tout va links building to economic prosperity.^[3][7]

Timeline

• After 1174 – Bastiment “act of building” in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[2]
• 1187 – Bastimentz “buildings” in a Judaeo-French text.^[2][3]
• 1317 – Edifices, bastimenz in an archive document.^[2]
• 16th century – The sense “building” becomes the usual one.^[3][5]
• 1660 – Oudin records bastimens for the fitting-out of ships.^[2]
• 1662 – Colbert uses it for “ship”.^[2][3]
• 1835 – The Académie records ouvriers en bâtiment.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic) The act of building.^[8][2]
2. The building trade and the trades that take part in it: l'industrie du bâtiment, peintre en bâtiment.^[8][7]
3. A building, an edifice, usually a large one in masonry.^[8][1]
4. (nautical) A ship, especially a large one; a warship.^[1][3]

Related words

• bâtir
• bâtisse
• rebâtir

Usage notes

Être du bâtiment (familiar) is to belong to the trade, to know one's business.^[8][7]

References

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