Etymologically
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chaire

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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]

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