concierge

Forms

concierge m or f by sense (plural concierges)^[1] Old French cumcerge (1195), then concierge (about 1220); Picard conchierge.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is probably inherited from Vulgar Latin *cōnservius, seen in Medieval Latin consergius (1106 and 1190), an alteration of Latin cōnservus (“fellow slave”) under the influence of serviēns, the source of sergent.^[2][5][6][1] The Latin noun is formed from cum (“with”) and servus (“slave”).^[5][7] Bloch and Wartburg note that this influence of the participle is found only in French.^[6]

Other proposals have been rejected: Baist's *conserviēns, is hard to reconcile with the sounds, and Lebel's *concerius, from cēra (“wax”), lacks foundation, as the TLFi says.^[2] Littré dismissed Ménage's cōnservō and Labbe's hybrid with a Germanic word for “constable”, and took the word, as most do now, for a servant.^[3]

Compare Spanish conserge.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, cumcerge in a cartulary of Montiéramey (1195), names the person in charge of an important building;^[2] concierge itself appears in Gautier de Coinci about 1220.^[2] In the Middle Ages the word had the broad sense of a keeper.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The medieval concierge had charge of a château, an official building or a public one, unlike the portier who kept the door of a house; in France it was once a considerable office.^[5][3] The concierge of a prison was formerly its head.^[2]

Around 1804 the word absorbed portier and took its modern sense, the keeper of a block of flats, very often in the feminine, since middle-class buildings had been kept by portières since the later 18th century.^[5][8] From the middle of the 20th century it has been losing ground to gardien, partly because of its lively figurative senses of a gossip and an ill-bred person.^[5][8]

English borrowed it in the 1640s.^[9]

Timeline

• 1106 – Medieval Latin consergius is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1195 – Cumcerge in the cartulary of Montiéramey.^[2][6]
• c. 1220 – Concierge in Gautier de Coinci.^[2]
• 1328 – The derivative conciergerie appears.^[5]
• 1640s – English borrows the word.^[9]
• c. 1804 – It takes the sense “keeper of a block of flats”, replacing portier.^[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A caretaker or doorkeeper of a block of flats, who lives in a lodge at its entrance.^[8][1]
2. (familiar) A gossip, an indiscreet, talkative person.^[8]
3. The keeper of a château, palace or public building;^[2][3] (dated) the head of a prison.^[2][3]
4. In a hotel, the employee who looks after guests' requests.^[1]

Word family

• conciergerie

Related words

• serf
• sergent
• Latin cōnservus
• English concierge

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 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1067a
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com