chaise

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃɛz/^[1]

Forms

chaise f (plural chaises)^[1] Middle French chaeze (1420), chaize (1470), chayze (16th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is a dialect variant: inherited from Middle French chaire, inherited from Latin cathedra (“seat, armchair”), borrowed from Ancient Greek καθέδρα (kathédra).^[2][4][5][1] The /r/ between vowels became /z/ in the dialects of the Centre and the south-east of the langue d'oïl, and the change was heard in Paris in the 15th century, where people said “pèze” for “père”; 16th-century witnesses such as Palsgrave, Erasmus and Marot comment on it.^[2][4] The change was later reversed almost everywhere, and survives only in “chaise” and in bésicles, earlier “béricle”.^[4][1] Littré calls it a faulty Parisian pronunciation that usage accepted.^[3]

“Chaire” and “chaise” named the same objects until the 17th century; then “chaise” was kept for the everyday seat and “chaire” for special senses such as the pulpit and the professor's chair, as Vaugelas noted in 1647.^[2][4] Both are doublets of the learned cathèdre.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form chaeze is found in 1420 in an inventory of the château de Vincennes, for a seat; the FEW points to a record from 1380.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the chaise still mattered in court etiquette, where it was kept for the princes of the blood; at Richelieu's urging it replaced the bench at table, and chaise à bras gave way to fauteuil.^[4] Several phrases named quite different seats: chaise percée, a close stool (1470), chaise portative (1556) and then chaise à porteurs, a sedan chair (1690), and chaise roulante (1668); in classical French these vehicles were simply called chaise.^[4][2] Chaise longue (1710, Saint-Simon) spread in the 20th century with seaside holidays, for a folding deckchair, Canadian French has chaise berçante “rocking chair” from 1824.^[4]

The proverbial être entre deux chaises “to be in an uncertain position” is recorded in 1845.^[2][4] Richelet's dictionary (1680) uses the word for the timber frame on which a windmill turns, and sailors used it for a rope sling holding a man at work (1831).^[2] English borrowed it as chaise “pleasure carriage” in 1701.^[6]

Timeline

• 1380 – Earliest record, according to the FEW.^[2]
• 1420 – Chaeze in an inventory of the château de Vincennes.^[2]
• 1470 – Chaize percée, in the accounts of Louis XI.^[2]
• 1647 – Vaugelas separates chaise from chaire.^[2]
• 1668 – Chaise roulante, Molière.^[2]
• 1690 – Chaise à porteurs.^[4]
• 1701 – English borrows chaise for a light carriage.^[6]
• 1710 – Chaise longue, Saint-Simon.^[2]
• 1845 – Être entre deux chaises.^[2]
• 1890 – Chaise électrique.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chair: a seat with legs and a back but no arms, for one person: chaise pliante, chaise de cuisine.^[7][8]
2. Être assis entre deux chaises: to be in an uncertain, unstable position.^[7]
3. La politique de la chaise vide: a boycott of a meeting out of disapproval.^[7]
4. Chaise longue: a deckchair or reclining chair, chaise haute, a high chair, chaise roulante, a wheelchair.^[7]
5. Chaise électrique: the electric chair.^[7]
6. (historical) Chaise percée, a close stool, chaise à porteurs, a sedan chair; a light horse-drawn carriage.^[7][4]
7. (technical) A frame supporting a machine or a bell, nœud de chaise, a bowline knot.^[7]

Word family

• chaisière

Related words

• chaire
• cathèdre
• Latin cathedra
• English chaise

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ 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
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse