camouflage

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ka.mu.flaʒ/^[1]

Forms

camouflage m (plural camouflages)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French camoufler + -age.^[2][3][1] The verb camoufler, a word of thieves' slang recorded from 1821, is probably formed on the stem of camouflet “puff of smoke blown in a sleeper's face”, the idea of concealment growing out of that of smoke; this is the view of the TLFi, the FEW and Bloch and Wartburg.^[2][4][5] Others derived it from Italian camuffare (“to disguise, to deceive”); the TLFi notes that this would still need camouflet to explain the ⟨fl⟩.^[2][5] Etymonline gives the Italian origin, with the influence of camouflet.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1887, in Hogier-Grison's Les Hommes de proie, for a disguise.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In theatre slang it meant the complete transformation of an actor for a part, by costume and make-up.^[2] During the First World War it took on, like the verb, the military sense of hiding troops and equipment from enemy observation (1914–1917), which led to figurative uses for disguising the truth.^[7][8][9][2] Larousse also records its use for a coding procedure in signals and for the means by which animals and plants blend with their surroundings.^[10]

English took the word in 1917 as English camouflage; an American magazine of that year presented it as the new name for “fooling the enemy”.^[6]

Timeline

• 1821 – The verb se camoufler “to disguise oneself” is cited from thieves' slang.^[2]
• 1887 – Camouflage “disguise” is first recorded.^[2][3]
• 1914–1917 – It is used for military concealment.^[8][2][9]
• 1916 – The derivative camoufleur is recorded.^[7]
• 1917 – English borrows the word.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The concealment of troops and military equipment from the enemy; the means used for it: tenue de camouflage.^[9][10]
2. (figurative) Disguising or hiding the truth by changing appearances: camouflage de bénéfices.^[9][10]
3. (biology) The means by which an animal or plant becomes hard to tell from its surroundings.^[10]
4. A coding procedure that replaces key words of a message with agreed words or groups of figures.^[10]

Word family

• camoufleur

Related words

• camoufler
• camouflet
• English camouflage

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 475a
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)