chaleur

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃa.lœʁ/^[1]

Forms

chaleur f (plural chaleurs)^[1] Old French chalur, chalour, chalor, Picard caleur and caure.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chalor, inherited from Latin calor (“heat, warmth; ardour”), accusative “calōrem”, from caleō (“to be warm”), the source of Old French chaloir (“to matter”).^{[4][2][5][1][6]} The TLFi treats it as taken from Latin “calor”, whose senses it follows closely.^[7] Littré points out that Old Picard “caure” continues the Latin nominative “cálor”, stressed on the first syllable, while “chaleur” continues the accusative “calórem”.^[3][8]

Cognate with Italian calore, Spanish calor, Catalan calor and Occitan calor.^[5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psautier de Cambridge (early 12th century) speaks of the chalur of the sun: the state of matter at a high temperature.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

About 1220 it was also the feeling of heat in illness, and in Nicot (1606) les grandes chaleurs are the summer.^[7][4] Gaston Phébus's Livre de la chasse (1387–1391) uses it for the mating season of animals, and être en chaleur “to be in heat” dates from 1561.^[7][4]

Figuratively it meant vitality and enthusiasm from 1549 (Robert Estienne), and in classical French also violent passion; today it suggests warmth of feeling, as in chaleureux.^[7][4] The scientific notion took shape in the 17th and 18th centuries, with chaleur latente and chaleur spécifique (1789).^[4]

Timeline

• early 12th century – Chalur of the sun, Psautier de Cambridge.^[7]
• c. 1220 – The feeling of heat in illness.^[7]
• 1387–1391 – The mating season, Gaston Phébus.^[7]
• 1549 – “Enthusiasm”, Robert Estienne.^[7]
• 1561 – Être en chaleur.^[7]
• 1606 – Les grandes chaleurs, Nicot.^[7]
• 1789 – Chaleur spécifique.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. heat, warmth: la chaleur du soleil, une chaleur étouffante, (plural) hot weather: les grandes chaleurs.^[9][1]
2. (physics) Heat as a form of energy: chaleur spécifique.^[10][4]
3. A feeling of heat in the body: bouffées de chaleur.^[7][9]
4. En chaleur: in heat (of female animals).^[7][1]
5. (figurative) Warmth, ardour, fervour: la chaleur de l'accueil, dans la chaleur de la discussion.^[4][9]

Word family

• chaleureux

Related words

• chaud
• chaloir
• échauffer
• calorie
• Latin calor

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b 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, 101b
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse