chaussée

Forms

chaussée f (plural chaussées)^[1] Old French chauciee and chaucie, with the northern form cauchie.^[2][3][4] Picard has cauchie.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chauciee, inherited from Vulgar Latin *calciāta, a past participle used as a noun with via (“road”) understood, recorded in Medieval Latin from 946.^[2][6][3] Its origin is disputed.^[2][3]

The first explanation, given by Diez and the FEW, derives it from Latin calx (“lime”): the Romans used lime mortar in the foundations of some roads, especially across marshy ground, and the name would have spread to all roads.^[2][3] The second takes it as the participle of a verb *calciō (“to tread down”), from calcia, a 5th-century synonym of the homonym meaning “heel”: a Catalan document of the 10th century defines such a road as one of stones firmly rammed down.^[7][3] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF prefer this second view, noting that lime was not used for medieval roads.^[7][8] Rey thinks it less likely.^[3] Littré also took it as “trodden earth”, observing that such a bank is mostly earth with no lime in it.^[5]

Cognate with Occitan caussada, Spanish calzada and Portuguese calçada.^[5] The English word causeway comes from the Anglo-Norman form.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Roman de Brut (about 1155) has chauciee in the sense “road”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From “road” the word came to name the raised, central part of a road where vehicles run, as opposed to the verges and, later, to the pavement; the administration that builds and maintains roads was called Ponts et Chaussées from the 18th century.^[2][3] Joinville uses chaucie in 1309 for a bank of earth raised in a river or low ground to serve as a way, and the word also names an embankment that holds back the water of a river or a pond.^[2][3]

The basalt columns of Northern Ireland are la Chaussée des Géants, English Giant's Causeway.^[3] By analogy it named a part of a watch's motion carrying the minute hand (1752) and a reef just below the water.^[2][3] The compound rez-de-chaussée (1450) first meant ground level with a road.^[3] Since 1548 it has meant the ground floor of a house.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – Chauciee “road” in Wace's Brut.^[2]
• 1309 – Joinville uses chaucie for a raised way across water.^[2]
• late 14th century – Froissart has the northern form cauchie.^[2]
• 1450 – The compound rez-de-chaussée appears.^[3]
• 18th century – Ponts et Chaussées in Saint-Simon.^[2]
• 1752 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records it as a watchmaking term.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The roadway, the part of a street or road used by vehicles, as opposed to the pavement: Les enfants ne doivent pas jouer sur la chaussée.^[10][2]
2. An embankment or bank of earth that holds back the water of a river or pond.^[11][2]
3. A raised road across wet ground, a causeway.^[11][1]
4. (Belgium) A main road, used in street names: Chaussée de Wavre.^[1]
5. (watchmaking) The part of a watch's motion that carries the minute hand.^[2][5]

Word family

• rez-de-chaussée

Related words

• chaux
• chausser
• Latin calx

Usage notes

Littré gives a second headword chaussée for the meal bag of a mill and the minute-hand piece of a watch; the TLFi and Rey treat the watch sense as part of the same word.^[5][2][3] The administrative name Ponts et Chaussées keeps the plural.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 r 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. ^ 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
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 108b
7. ^ a b 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. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert