champ

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʃɑ̃/^[1]

Forms

champ m (plural champs)^[1] Old French champ, also camp (1080), a Norman and Picard form.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin campus (“plain; cultivated plain, field; battlefield; field of action”).^{[4][2][5][6][7]} The Latin word, probably native to an ancient language of Italy, first meant a plain as opposed to mountains; it gave up that sense to “plana” (see plaine) and in Late Latin largely replaced Latin ager for a field.^[2][5] It is a doublet of camp and campus.^[1]

Cognate with Italian campo, Spanish campo, Portuguese campo, Occitan camp, Catalan camp and Romanian câmp.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has arpent de camp, land for growing crops, and also champ for the battlefield.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Champ de la bataille (before 1283) was shortened to champ de bataille (14th century); the duelling ground gave champ clos.^[4][5] Les champs as opposed to the town (13th century; plural from 1539) was slowly overtaken by campagne, but survives in phrases such as aux champs and la clé des champs.^[2][4] Heraldry uses champ for the background of a shield (13th century).^[4]

Figurative uses: sur-le-champ “at once” (1538), à tout bout de champ “at every turn” (Cotgrave, 1611) and champ “field of action” (1539).^[4] Science adopted it for the field of an optical instrument (1753) and for electric and magnetic fields (1899); cinema has champ and contrechamp.^[4][1]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – A field; a battlefield, Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• 13th century – A heraldic field.^[4]
• 1538 – Sur le champ.^[4]
• 1539 – A field of action, les champs.^[4]
• 1611 – À chaque bout de champ, Cotgrave.^[4]
• 1753 – Optical field.^[4]
• 1899 – Champ électrique, magnétique.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A field (of crops): un champ de blé, (plural) the countryside: la vie aux champs, à travers champs.^[8][1]
2. An area used for a purpose: champ de bataille, champ de courses, champ de foire, champ de mines.^[4][1]
3. A field (of activity, of study): champ d'action, laisser le champ libre, champ lexical.^[4][1]
4. (physics, optics) A field: champ magnétique, champ de vision.^[4][1]
5. (heraldry) The field of a shield.^[4][1]
6. Sur-le-champ: at once, à tout bout de champ: at every turn.^[4][1]

Word family

• champi
• contrechamp
• sur-le-champ

Related words

• camp
• campagne
• campus
• champagne
• champêtre
• champion
• champignon

Usage notes

De champ “edgewise” (poser une brique de champ) is a separate word, from Old French cant “side” (see chant); Littré gives it its own entry.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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 i j k l m n o p q r s 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
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 156a
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter