chaire

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃɛʁ/^[1]

Forms

chaire f (plural chaires)^[1] Old French chaere, chaiere.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chaere, by regular sound change inherited from Latin cathedra (“chair with a back”),^{[2][3][5][1][6]} borrowed from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra, “seat; teacher's chair; throne”),^[3][1] from κατά (katá, “down”) and ἕδρα (hédra, “seat”), related to the Latin root of seoir.^[3][7]

The form chaise, which arose about 1420 in the central region with /z/ for /r/, took over the ordinary sense “chair”, and French kept both for different senses;^[5][3] cathèdre is a learned doublet.^[1] Compare Old Occitan cadiera and Italian cattedra.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Pèlerinage de Charlemagne (first half of the 12th century) has chaere for a chair with a back;^[2] the sense stayed in use until the 17th century and survives in the dialects of the West and Centre.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

It specialised as a seat of honour: a throne (about 1170), the seat of great persons, the Chair of Saint Peter (Furetière, 1690).^[2][3] Jean de Meun (1269–1278) uses it for the raised seat from which a master teaches,^[2][3] and by metonymy it came to mean a professorship (chaire de droit, 1680).^[2][8]

The chaire de vérité (mid-15th century) is the pulpit of a church, whence l'éloquence de la chaire “pulpit oratory” (1694).^[2][8] A sedan chair was a chayere in 1404, a sense later taken by chaise.^[2]

Timeline

• first half of the 12th century – Chaere “chair”.^[2][3]
• c. 1170 – “Throne”.^[2][3]
• 1269–1278 – A master's raised seat (Jean de Meun).^[2]
• about 1420 – The rival form chaise appears.^[5]
• mid-15th century – Chaire de vérité “pulpit”.^[2]
• 1680 – Chaire de droit “professorship”.^[2]
• 1694 – Éloquence de la chaire.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pulpit.^[8][1]
2. A university professorship, a chair.^[8][1]
3. The raised desk or seat of a teacher; a rostrum.^[1][2]
4. The throne of a bishop or of the pope: la chaire de saint Pierre.^[8][1]

Related words

• chaise
• cathédrale
• Latin cathedra
• English chair

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 506a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert