chevalet

Forms

chevalet m (plural chevalets)^[1] Old French cevalet and chevalet; the form quevallet is recorded at Tournai in 1429.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French cheval + -et, a diminutive meaning “little horse”.^[2][4][3][5] The noun cheval is from Latin caballus, first a familiar word for a poor horse that replaced classical equus.^[4] The sense “instrument of torture” is a calque of Latin equuleus (“little horse, rack”), a classical word.^[2]

Cognate with Walloon chafolè, Spanish caballete and Italian cavalletto.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, cevalet in Philippe Mousket's chronicle (second half of the 13th century), means a little horse;^[2][6] chevalet follows about 1285 in Adenet's Cleomadès.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word mostly meant a small horse, a sense still found in Froissart in the 15th century.^[4][5] From 1429 it was transferred to a prop or support, the image of a four-legged animal being applied to a technical device, as also with chèvre and poutre.^[2][7] In 1430 it named the stand of a crossbow.^[2] That sense led to the wooden horse used for torture (1559, Amyot).^[2][7] Under the Ancien Régime a similar device served to punish soldiers.^[2][5]

In the 17th century it became the painter's stand for the canvas (1680, Richelet), whence tableau de chevalet, a movable picture as opposed to a fresco (1718, Académie).^[2][7][8] The bridge of a stringed instrument is recorded from 1564 in Jean Thierry's French–Latin dictionary.^[2][9] The verb chevaler owes its technical sense “to use a chevalet” (1723) to this noun.^[7]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – Cevalet “little horse” appears in Philippe Mousket's chronicle.^[2]
• c. 1285 – The form chevalet is used in Adenet's Cleomadès.^[2]
• 1429 – A Tournai building account uses quevallet for a prop or support.^[2][3]
• 1430 – An inventory of the Bastille uses it for a crossbow stand.^[2]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for an instrument of torture.^[2][7]
• 1564 – Jean Thierry records the bridge of a stringed instrument.^[2][9]
• 1680 – Richelet records the painter's easel.^[2][7]
• 1718 – The Académie records tableau de chevalet.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A wooden horse used as an instrument of torture, a rack.^[8][2][1]
2. A trestle or stand holding a workpiece at the right height, as used by sawyers and carpenters.^[8][9]
3. A painter's easel: tableau de chevalet, a movable picture as opposed to a fresco or a ceiling.^[8][5]
4. The bridge of a stringed instrument, on which the strings rest.^[8][9][1]
5. (board games) A rack for the tiles.^[1]

Related words

• cheval
• chevalement
• chevalier
• Latin caballus
• Latin equuleus

Usage notes

Louis XI's Nouvelles use monter sur son chevalet for flying into a temper.^[5] English easel, from Dutch, rests on the same comparison of a stand with a beast of burden.^[10]

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 r s t 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com