cloison

Forms

cloison f (plural cloisons)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cloison, inherited from Vulgar Latin *clausiō (“closure”),^[2][3][4][5] formed on clausus (“closed”), the past participle of claudō (“to close”), the source of clore.^[2][3][6]

Cognate with Old Occitan clauzon.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it about 1170–1180 in his Chronique des ducs de Normandie for an enclosure, here a fortified one.^[2][3] Littré quotes him: Les fossez virent, la cloison Qu'il aveient fait d'environ “they saw the ditches, the enclosure they had made all around”.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “enclosure, fortified enclosure” belonged to Old and Middle French; it was still listed by Cotgrave in 1611, then disappeared.^[2][3][4] It gave way to “light wall separating two rooms”, recorded in 1534 in the building accounts of the king.^[2][3]

By analogy the word passed into anatomy and biology for a natural division within a cavity (1732).^[3][8] Montaigne already used it figuratively for what divides (1580), and it has the same figurative values as barrière.^[8][3] The nautical cloison étanche divides a ship into watertight compartments and, figuratively, is an impassable separation.^[8][9]

Timeline

• 1170–1180 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for a fortified enclosure.^[2]
• 1534 – The royal building accounts use it for a light wall between two rooms.^[2][3]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it figuratively.^[8]
• 1611 – Cotgrave still records the sense “enclosure”.^[2]
• 1676 – The derivative cloisonnage is recorded.^[4]
• 1732 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux has the anatomical and botanical sense.^[8]
• 1752 – Cloisonné is recorded.^[3]
• 1866 – Larousse records the sense “thin partition inside an object”.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A partition, a light wall, thinner than a load-bearing one, dividing the rooms of a building: On entend les voisins à travers la cloison.^[9][6][8]
2. (nautical) A bulkhead dividing the inside of a ship: cloison étanche.^[9][1]
3. A thin wall dividing the inside of an object into compartments.^[8][6]
4. (anatomy, botany) A septum, a membrane or wall dividing a cavity: cloison nasale, the walls dividing a fruit into cells.^[9][8][1]
5. (figurative) What divides people or groups, a barrier between them.^[9][6]

Word family

• cloisonner
• cloisonnage
• cloisonné

Related words

• clore
• clos
• Latin claudō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 752a
6. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert