Etymologically
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berline

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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

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