cabane

Forms

cabane f (plural cabanes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan cabana (“thatched cottage, small house”), recorded in Provençal from 1253.^[2][3][4][5] The Occitan word is from Late Latin capanna (“hut”), found in Isidore of Seville as a synonym of casula (“little house”), in Italy about 800, in the Reichenau glosses in northern France, and very often in Catalan place names from the 9th century.^[2][3] Its origin is uncertain: Rey and Bloch and Wartburg think it probably pre-Roman, perhaps Illyrian.^[2][3] Littré derived it from a Celtic word, a view not followed by the later dictionaries.^[6]

Cognate with Italian capanna, Catalan cabanya, Spanish cabaña and Portuguese cabana.^[6][7][3] cabine is a doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1387 for a small, roughly built dwelling.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word gained special senses from the uses of such shelters: a shelter for animals (1462) and a high mountain refuge (1786), a sense still current in French-speaking Switzerland.^[2][8] In 16th-century French it was also a cabin on a boat, as in Rabelais.^[6][9]

In Canada cabane à sucre (1837, cabane du sucre 1707), or simply cabane (1833), is a maple sugar shack, and the spring gathering held there.^[2][10] In the French of the Antilles it is a simple bed.^[2] In 20th-century slang it became a military prison (1905), then a prison (1925) and a brothel (1925).^[2]

Timeline

• 1387 – First record, borrowed from Provençal.^[2][3]
• 1462 – It is used for a shelter for animals.^[2]
• 1603 – Champlain uses se cabaner.^[2]
• 1707 – Cabane du sucre is recorded in Canada.^[2][10]
• 1752 – Cabanon appears.^[3]
• 1786 – Saussure uses it for a mountain refuge.^[2][8]
• 1837 – Cabane à sucre is recorded.^[2][10]
• 1905 – It is slang for a military prison.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hut, shack or cabin: a small, roughly built dwelling or shelter.^[10][11]
2. A shed or hutch for tools or animals: cabane à outils, cabane à lapins.^[10][9][6]
3. (Switzerland) A high mountain refuge.^[10][2]
4. (Canada) Cabane à sucre, or cabane: a sugar shack in a maple wood, and the spring outing held there.^[10][2]
5. (slang) prison.^[2][1]

Word family

• cabaner
• cabanon
• encabaner

Related words

• cabine
• cahute
• Late Latin capanna

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 o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 244a
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g 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