Etymologically
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champ

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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

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