berline

Pronunciation

• IPA: /bɛʁ.lin/^[1]

Forms

berline f (plural berlines)^[1] Breline (Saint-Simon); the Académie in 1740 still gives both pronunciations.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is derived from the name of Berlin, the German city where this carriage was built and made fashionable about 1670 by an architect of the Elector of Brandenburg.^{[5][3][2][6][1][7][8]}

Earliest recorded meaning

The word appears early in the 18th century in Saint-Simon, in the form breline, and was taken into the Académie's dictionary in 1718, for a covered, four-wheeled carriage with two seats facing each other.^[5][2][9]

Semantic evolution

The horse-drawn berline, with glass windows and a folding hood, was the great travelling carriage of the 18th and early 19th centuries^[10][9]; berline de poste was the post coach.^[10][9] By likeness of shape and use, from 1877 it named a wagon carrying coal in the mines, as in Zola's Germinal.^[5][6]

Like other carriage names, it passed to the motor car: since before 1928 a berline is a closed four-door saloon car.^[5][9] The 18th-century berlingot (1739), a one-seated version, was derived from the altered form berlingue.^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1670 – The carriage becomes fashionable in Berlin.^[5][3]
• early 18th century – Breline (Saint-Simon).^[2][9]
• 1718 – First recorded by the Académie.^[5][2]
• 1739 – Berlingot, a smaller carriage.^[5]
• 1877 – A coal wagon in mines.^[5]
• before 1928 – A saloon car.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A four-door saloon car, a sedan.^[9][1]
2. (historical) A berlin, a covered four-wheeled carriage.^[9][1]
3. (mining) A coal wagon, a tub.^[9][1]

Word family

• berlingot

Related words

• English berlin

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 d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 95b
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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