Etymologically
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campagne

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kɑ̃.paɲ/[1]

Forms

campagne f (plural campagnes)[1] Campaigne (Marot); Old French champaigne, champagne “open country”.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is the Provençal or, more probably, Norman-Picard form “campaigne” corresponding to Old French champaigne,[2][3][5][6] found as a northern word in the 12th and 13th centuries,[7][2] which it gradually replaced in the sense “wide flat country”.[2][3] Littré already called it the Picard pronunciation of “champagne” “plain”.[4] The source is Late Latin campānia (“plain, open country”) (6th century), the neuter plural of “campāneus” “of the plain” taken as a feminine singular, from Latin campus (“field, plain”);[3][7] Bloch and Wartburg also allow an extension of “Campania”, the plain round Naples.[7] “Champagne” is a doublet.[1]

The TLFi thinks a borrowing from Italian campagna unnecessary for the sense “country”, but Italian may have influenced the military sense, which is earlier in Italian.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Marot (1536) has campaigne for a wide stretch of flat open country.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

For a long time the campagne was defined by its flatness and openness, close to plaine and opposed above all to mountains, rase campagne dates from 1671, when the word also began to mean cultivated land as opposed to the town.[3][2] Battre la campagne, to scour it for game, was used figuratively for “to ramble, wander in one's mind” before 1660.[2] Long viewed with contempt by townspeople, the country gained a positive value with Rousseau, and today suggests rest and authenticity (maison de campagne, pain de campagne).[3]

From 1587 (La Noue: artillerie de campagne, se mettre en campagne) it named the open ground where troops manoeuvre, and, from 1671 a military expedition (les campagnes d'Italie);[2][3] Stendhal (1836) has plan de campagne figuratively and campagne parlementaire.[2] By analogy it is a period of organised action (campagne électorale, publicitaire), and in Africa and the Indian Ocean the harvest season (campagne sucrière).[3] English campaign was borrowed in the 1640s.[8]

Timeline

  • 6th century – Late Latin campania.[3]
  • 1536 – Campaigne in Marot.[2]
  • 1587 – Se mettre en campagne in La Noue.[2]
  • 1611 – Campagnard.[7]
  • 1640s – English campaign.[8]
  • Before 1660 – Battre la campagne in Scarron.[2]
  • 1671 – Rase campagne, “military expedition”, in Pomey.[2]
  • 1836 – Plan de campagne, campagne parlementaire in Stendhal.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The country, countryside, as opposed to the town: vivre à la campagne, maison de campagne.[9][1]
  2. (dated) Open, flat country, en rase campagne: in the open.[9][5]
  3. Battre la campagne: to scour the country; to ramble, let one's mind wander.[2][9]
  4. A military campaign: les campagnes de Napoléon, se mettre en campagne: to set to work.[3][10]
  5. A campaign, drive: campagne électorale, campagne publicitaire.[3][1]
  6. (Africa, Indian Ocean) The harvest and marketing season: campagne sucrière.[3]

Word family

  • campagnard
  • campagnol

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 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 d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 153a
  7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)