chèque

Forms

chèque m (plural chèques)^[1] First written in the English way, check (1835), before the French spelling chèque was adopted.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English check (“written order to a bank”), also spelt cheque (checque from 1794).^[2][3][4] The revised TLFi notice dates the French word from 1850, when Michel Chevalier, writing about money, passed from the English spelling to the French one; the English word had appeared in French text in 1835, still unassimilated.^[2] The TLFi, the FEW and Bloch and Wartburg date it from 1788, but that record is only a quotation of the English word, not a borrowing.^[5][6][2]

In English the banking sense is a narrowing of the older sense “stopping, control”, hence “counterfoil, control mark”, the counterfoil being meant to stop fraud.^[5][3] The English noun continues Middle English chek, chak, shortened from a form taken from Old French eschec, the source of French échec.^[3][5] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF explain the English spelling with ⟨que⟩ by the influence of exchequer, as in the name of Treasury bills.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Michel Chevalier's work on money (1850) the French form appears among kinds of credit: les chèques ou traites à vue sur les banquiers (“cheques or sight drafts on bankers”), after he had written check a few pages earlier.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Cheque banking spread in France during the 19th century.^[3] Chèque barré “crossed cheque” is found in 1858 and again in 1863, while most other compounds came in the 20th century: chèque postal (1918), chèque de voyage (1953, translating English traveller check) and chèque-restaurant (1963).^[3] In the ordinary sense of a bank cheque the word forms many phrases, such as chèque sans provision, familiarly chèque en bois, and carnet de chèques.^[3]

Its derivatives are chéquier (1877), the usual word for carnet de chèques, and the historical chéquard (1893), a politician accused of taking money in the Panama Canal affair.^[3][5]

Timeline

• 1835 – Check appears in French as an unassimilated English word.^[2]
• 1850 – Michel Chevalier introduces the spelling chèque.^[2]
• 1858 – First record of chèque barré.^[3]
• 1877 – The derivative chéquier appears.^[3]
• 1893 – Chéquard is recorded at the time of the Panama scandal.^[5][6]
• 1918 – Chèque postal is recorded.^[3]
• 1953 – Chèque de voyage translates the English term.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cheque: a written order by which an account holder tells a bank to pay a sum from the account, to himself or to someone else: elle a réglé la facture par chèque.^[8][5]
2. Chèque barré: a crossed cheque, which can only be paid into a bank account.^[7][3]
3. Chèque postal: a cheque drawn on a post-office account.^[3][7]
4. Chèque de voyage: a traveller's cheque.^[3]
5. Chèque sans provision, (familiar) chèque en bois: a cheque not covered by funds, a bad cheque.^[3]

Word family

• chéquier
• chéquard
• porte-chéquier

Related words

• échec
• English check
• English cheque

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 41b
5. ^ a b c d e f 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
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert