choir

Forms

choir (defective)^[1] Old French cheoir, earlier chedeir and chaeir.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cheoir, inherited from Latin cadō (“to fall”).^[4][5][3] In Late Latin the verb passed from the third to the second conjugation, cadēre, which is the form behind the French verb.^[4][6][1] Littré notes that the classical verb, stressed on its first syllable, would have given a French form in ⟨-dre⟩, while the Italian verb keeps the classical stress.^[6]

Cognate with Romanian cădea, Italian cadere, Occitan caire, Catalan caure, Spanish caer and Portuguese cair.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as the conjugated form cadit “he fell” in the Vie de saint Léger, in the second half of the 10th century, and as chiet “falls” in the Vie de saint Alexis about 1040.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the verb meant “to fall”, literally and figuratively, from 1080, and took on further senses: “to incur” in the 13th century, “to fall due” in the 14th, and “to end in” in 1369.^[3]

From the 15th century choir was gradually given up for tomber, partly because its conjugation was irregular and uncertain and because some of its forms sounded like those of choyer.^[4][3][7] It now survives mostly in the infinitive and the third person of the present indicative, and its literal sense is archaic or humorous.^[3] The exception is laisser choir “to abandon”, first found in Corneille's Le Cid (1636), a living stylistic variant of laisser tomber.^[4][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that the verb survives in the dialects on the northern edges of the French area.^[8]

Timeline

• Second half of the 10th century – The form cadit “he fell” appears in the Vie de saint Léger.^[4]
• c. 1040 – Chiet “falls” appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[4]
• 1080 – The Chanson de Roland has the infinitive chaeir.^[2][9]
• 13th century – It is used for “to incur”.^[3]
• 14th century – It is used for “to fall due”.^[3]
• 15th century – Tomber starts to replace it.^[7]
• 1636 – Laisser choir “to abandon” appears in Corneille's Le Cid.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (literary or archaic) To fall, to be carried downwards.^[7][1][4] Une pomme chut de l'arbre.^[7][1][4]
2. (figurative, literary) To fail, to lose one's credit or influence.^[2]
3. Laisser choir: to drop something;^[7][2] (familiar) to abandon or let down someone.^[7][2] Il a laissé choir ses amis.^[7][2]

Word family

• chute
• chape-chute
• méchant
• parachute
• rechute
• déchoir
• échoir

Related words

• cadence
• caduc
• chance
• Latin cadō

Usage notes

The verb is defective: in the present only je chois, tu chois, il choit and ils choient are used, with the past historic je chus and the past participle chu, and cherra is an old future.^[7] Perrault's Tire la chevillette, la bobinette cherra keeps that old future.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 24b
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert