chant

Forms

chant m (countable and uncountable, plural chants)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cantus (“song, singing”), from canō (“to sing”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Latin noun was used of the song of a person or a bird, the sound of an instrument and a poem.^[2] It is the noun of action of chanter, which comes from the Latin intensive cantō.^[4]

Cognate with Italian canto, Spanish canto and Portuguese canto,^[6][5] Old Occitan cant^[5] and Picard cant.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the early 12th century in the Oxford Psalter, for musical sounds made by the human voice.^[2][4][8]

Semantic evolution

By analogy it was used for the song of birds (late 13th century, chant des oisiaus), and later of insects, and for the playing of an instrument (14th century, le chant des violons, Baudelaire, 1857).^[2][4] Le chant du cygne (1640) replaced the earlier l'hymne du cigne (1611).^[4] Beside chanson the word came to name a more serious or learned composition for the voice, such as church music; from 1541 (Calvin) it is also a kind of vocal music, and in 1690 Furetière uses it for the melodic part of a piece.^[2][4]

With the stress on the words rather than the music, it named a lyric poem, as in chant royal (1521, Marot), a fixed form of five stanzas with a refrain, and a division of an epic poem (1644, Scarron).^[2][4] The compounds déchant (about 1175) and contre-chant (1578) are musical terms.^[4]

Timeline

• early 12th century – First record, in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• c. 1175 – Déchant is formed on it.^[4]
• late 13th century – Used of the song of birds.^[2]
• 14th century – Used for the playing of an instrument.^[2]
• 1521 – Marot writes a chant royal.^[2]
• 1541 – Calvin uses it for a kind of vocal music.^[2]
• 1640 – Le chant du cygne is recorded.^[4]
• 1644 – Scarron uses it for a division of a poem.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière uses it for the melodic part.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. singing; the art and technique of singing: un cours de chant.^[9][2][1]
2. A song, a melody sung; a kind of vocal music: chant grégorien.^[9][4][1]
3. The song of a bird or insect; the sound of an instrument.^[2][4]
4. Le chant du cygne: a swan song.^[4][9]
5. (literature) A lyric poem; one of the divisions of an epic poem, a canto.^[2][4]

Word family

• déchant
• contre-chant
• plain-chant

Related words

• chanter
• chanson
• Latin cantus

Usage notes

A separate technical noun chant, also written champ, is the narrow side of an object, as in poser une brique de chant “to set a brick on edge”; it is first found in 1155–1160 in the romance of Thèbes and comes from Latin canthus (“iron tyre of a wheel”), probably of Gaulish origin.^[2][4][9][8]

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 p q 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 236b
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert