char

Forms

char m (plural chars)^[1] Old French char, with the Picard form car;^[2][3] Old French also had a plural charre from Latin carra.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French char, inherited from Latin carrus (“wagon, baggage cart”).^[4][5][6] Gaulish in origin, the word was taken by the Romans like other names of vehicles; it named the big four-wheeled wagon that Gaulish invaders used to carry their baggage and to ring their camp at night.^[5][7][8] It is a doublet of car² “coach”, a borrowing from English.^[1]

Cognate with Italian carro, Spanish carro, Portuguese carro, Old Occitan car and Romanian car.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Vie de saint Thomas (1172–1174), meaning any cart or wagon.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From its broad first sense the word narrowed in several directions: the two-wheeled vehicle of antiquity used in war, games and triumphs (1538), a decorated parade vehicle (1636) and, in poetry, a light and elegant carriage (1648).^[4][5] With a complement it also named rustic vehicles, as in char à bœufs and char à bancs (1764, first in Switzerland).^[5][7] Bloch and Wartburg note that outside poetry it had given way to voiture.^[7]

In military use char d'assaut (1917–1918) named an armoured vehicle, in competition with tank.^[5][4] In Canada it has meant a railway car (1826) and, under the influence of English car, a motor car; the figurative c'est pas les gros chars means “it's not much money”.^[5][9] In Switzerland char also names a game of nine counters in which three in a row make a “char” (1821).^[5]

Timeline

• 1172–1174 – Char appears in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Vie de saint Thomas.^[4]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne uses it for the chariot of antiquity.^[4]
• 1636 – Monet records the sense “decorated or parade vehicle”.^[4]
• 1648 – Scarron uses it poetically for an elegant carriage.^[4]
• 1764 – Char à banc is recorded in a description of Neuchâtel.^[4]
• 1826 – Canadian sense “railway car”.^[5][9]
• 1881 – The slang char “bluff” is recorded.^[10][5]
• 1918 – Foch uses char d'assaut “tank”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (antiquity) A chariot, a two-wheeled vehicle drawn by horses and used in war, races and triumphs: une course de chars.^[11][4]
2. (poetic) Any vehicle, especially a fine carriage;^[11][2] le char de l'État, the ship of state.^[11][2]
3. (dated) A four-wheeled farm wagon drawn by an animal: char à bœufs, also char à bancs.^[11]
4. A decorated float used in parades and carnivals.^[11][1]
5. (military) A tank;^[4][1] char d'assaut.^[4][1]
6. (Quebec, familiar) A car, a motor car.^[5][1]

Word family

• charrette
• charretée
• charretier
• chariot
• charrier
• charroi
• charrière
• charron
• char-à-bancs
• antichar

Related words

• charger
• charrue
• carrière²
• car²
• Latin carrus

Usage notes

A slang homograph char or charre “bluff” (1881, first for a confidence trick) is a shortening of charriage, from the slang verb charrier “to fool”; in arrête ton char! “stop telling tales!” it is understood as a metaphor of this char.^[10][11][5]

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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 426b
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert