Etymologically
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cantine

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 17 October 2026 at 18:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kɑ̃.tin/[1]

Forms

cantine f (plural cantines)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian cantina (“cellar, wine store”) (from the second half of the 13th century),[2][3][4][1][5] a derivative of canto (“corner”), hence “out-of-the-way corner, store room”; it belongs to the family of canton.[2][3][6][7]

Littré lists older explanations: from the same root as Italian cantone (“corner”) (Diez), from “canovettina” “little cellar” (Ménage), or from Latin quintāna (“market in a Roman camp”) (Tardieu), the one he preferred.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Richelet (1680) records it for a small case used in the army to carry bottles.[2][3][9]

Semantic evolution

Two lines of sense grew from the start.[3] The case for bottles became an officer's trunk (1877, Littré) and then any sturdy, often metal, travelling trunk.[2][3]

The Italian sense of a store came back with a royal ordinance of 1720 on a cantine supplying tobacco to the troops, and then wine and beer (1740).[2][3] By 1845 it was a place where food and drink were served to a community (a hospice, prison or barracks), and by 1867 to the workers of a factory[2][3][10]; cantine scolaire, the school canteen, is familiarly cantoche.[2][3][10] The cantinière (from 1762) who followed the troops selling drink and food lasted until the First World War.[3][4]

In African French cantine is also a food box or a stall, and in Quebec a cantine mobile is a catering van.[3]

Timeline

  • 2nd half of the 13th century – Italian cantina “cellar”.[2][3]
  • 1680 – A case for carrying bottles in the army (Richelet).[2][3]
  • 1694 – First recorded by the Académie.[2]
  • 1720 – A store supplying tobacco to troops.[2][3]
  • 1740 – A store selling wine and beer to soldiers.[2]
  • 1762 – Cantinier.[4][3]
  • 1845 – A place serving meals to a community.[2][3]
  • 1877 – An officer's trunk (Littré).[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A canteen, a dining hall serving meals to the members of a school, firm or other community.[10][11]
  2. (familiar) A favourite restaurant where one eats regularly.[10][3]
  3. A plain, sturdy travelling trunk, especially a soldier's.[10][11]
  4. In a prison, the service through which inmates buy everyday goods.[11]

Word family

  • cantinier

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 232a
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)