comptoir

Forms

comptoir m (plural comptoirs)^[1] Middle French comptoer, comptouer, contouer and contoir.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from French compter (“to count”) + -oir (“instrument suffix”), first as comptoer.^[2][3][4][1] Medieval Latin had computorium (“table where accounts are kept”) earlier, in 1274,^[2][3] and the Wiktionary calls the French word a calque of it.^[1] The verb is from Latin computō (“to count”).^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1345 the accounts of Château-Gaillard use comptoer for the table on which a merchant shows his goods and counts his money.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, the table where traders serve customers and take payment, has stayed the usual one.^[3][2] From the 14th century to the 17th, comptouer also named a small room or cabinet;^[2] Littré quotes Charles d'Orléans and Louis XI's Cent Nouvelles with this kind of sense.^[5] The Académie in 1835 used it again for the office in a merchant's or banker's house where clerks work and payments are made.^[2]

From 1687 a comptoir was a general trading office in the Indies, then in other overseas lands; this is now a historical term.^[2][3] From 1835 it also named the branch of a bank, and it entered the names of financial firms.^[3] In Swiss French it has meant a trade fair since 1920.^[3] In Quebec it means a kitchen worktop, and in a store a specialized department.^[3][7]

An 18th-century verse of 1747 already shows a drinker asking for a pint sur le Comptoir of a tavern,^[8] and the bar counter of a café is now one of its common senses.^[7]

Timeline

• 1274 – Medieval Latin computorium “accounting table” is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1345 – Comptoer appears in the accounts of Château-Gaillard.^[2][4]
• 14th century – Comptouer is used for a room or closet (manuscript of the 15th century).^[2]
• 1636 – Monet's dictionary has the spelling contoir.^[2]
• 1687 – First record of the sense “trading office in the Indies”.^[2][3]
• 1747 – A verse mentions ordering a pint at a tavern counter.^[8]
• 1835 – The Académie records the office where a firm's clerks work.^[2]
• 1920 – In Switzerland it begins to name a trade fair.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shop counter: a long table on which a trader shows goods and takes payment.^[7][2][1]
2. The bar of a café or bar: boire un café au comptoir.^[7]
3. (Quebec) A kitchen countertop.^[7][3]
4. (historical) A trading post of a company or a state in a distant country: les comptoirs des Indes.^[7][3][1]
5. Comptoir de vente: an agreement among sellers or producers, a cartel.^[7][1]
6. The branch of a bank, and a word in the names of financial firms.^[3]
7. (Switzerland) A trade fair.^[3]

Related words

• compter
• compte
• comptable
• Medieval Latin computorium

Usage notes

Dame de comptoir and demoiselle de comptoir were the woman who kept the till or served at the counter; the TLFi marks them as dated.^[2][5] The Wiktionary lists the phrase pilier de comptoir for a regular drinker at the bar,^[1] and the Petit Robert brève de comptoir for a remark overheard at a bar.^[7]

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 f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF