besace

Forms

besace f (plural besaces)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin bisaccia, the neuter plural of bisaccium (“double bag”), taken as a feminine singular.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is formed from bis (“twice”) and saccus (“bag”).^[2][1] Bloch and Wartburg note that the plural first named the two pockets of the bag, and that the late Latin form is found in the glosses.^[3]

Cognate with Italian bisaccia, Spanish bezazas (plural) and Old Occitan beassa.^[3][6] The Latin word was taken up again in the 15th century as bissac, reshaped after sac¹.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1200, for a bag whose two ends form two pockets.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its first sense of a bag opening in the middle, with a pocket at each end, and by extension came to mean a large bag in general.^[2][7] It was carried over the shoulder, one pocket in front and one behind,^[7] and became the bag of beggars and of the mendicant orders; hence the derivative besacier (1524), a familiar word for a beggar, already archaic in the 17th century.^[2]

Because the beggar's bag stood for poverty, être réduit à la besace meant to be reduced to misery;^[8][9] Furetière recorded the phrase in 1690.^[8][9] In building, appareil en besace is masonry in which the stones are laid alternately lengthwise and crosswise.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – First record of besace.^[2][4]
• 15th century – The learned form bissac appears, in Charles d'Orléans.^[3]
• 1524 – First record of the derivative besacier.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records être réduit à la besace “to be reduced to poverty”.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long bag open in the middle, whose two ends form two pockets, carried over the shoulder.^[10][11][7]
2. (figurative, dated) Être réduit à la besace, être à la besace: to be reduced to beggary, ruined.^[8][9]
3. (architecture) En besace: of masonry, with the stones laid alternately lengthwise and crosswise.^[10]

Word family

• besacier

Related words

• bissac
• sac¹
• Latin bisaccium

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 378b
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ 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