cantonnement

Forms

cantonnement m (plural cantonnements)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French cantonner + -ment.^[2][1][3][4] The verb cantonner is itself derived from canton, and like it became a military term.^[5]

The English word cantonment (1756) was borrowed from it.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in the early 18th century in Saint-Simon's Mémoires, is figurative: the fact of living shut away, withdrawn from the world, a use the TLFi calls isolated.^[2] The GLLF dates the same passage to the end of the 17th century.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The military sense appeared in 1752, when the supplement to the Trévoux dictionary described it as the rest given to troops spread over several neighbouring villages.^[2][5] By metonymy the word then named the place or the buildings where the troops stayed.^[5][2]

In the 19th century it took on technical uses: in 1832 Raymond recorded it for a part of a field set aside for sick cattle, which they could not leave without permission,^[2] and in 1845 Bescherelle recorded the legal sense of a right of hunting, fishing or forest use confined to a smaller area than before.^[2][7] Modern dictionaries add the limitation of a creditor's rights to certain of the debtor's goods,^[8][7] and, on the railways, the division of a line into sections called cantons.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1700s – Saint-Simon uses it of a withdrawn life.^[2]
• 1752 – The Trévoux supplement records the military sense.^[2][5]
• 1756 – English borrows it as cantonment.^[6]
• 1832 – Raymond records it for a fenced-off area for sick cattle.^[2]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the legal sense in hunting, fishing and forest law.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (military) The temporary billeting of troops in a place, often in private houses: Le régiment est resté en cantonnement tout l’hiver.^[8][4][9]
2. The place where troops are quartered.^[8][2][4]
3. (railways) The division of a line into sections to keep trains apart.^[8][9]
4. (administration) A delimited part of a forest;^[8][7] (law) a right of use confined to a delimited area.^[8][7]
5. (law) The limitation of a creditor's rights to certain of the debtor's goods.^[8][7][9]
6. The fact of being confined to one field or task.^[9]

Related words

• canton
• cantonner
• cantonade

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)