connétable

Forms

connétable m (plural connétables)^[1] Old French conestable (about 1155), cunestable and connestable (1281).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French conestable, inherited from Late Latin comes stabulī (“count of the stable, master of the horse”), formed of comes (“companion, dignitary”) and the genitive of stabulum (“stable”).^[5][2][3][6] The /m/ became /n/ by dissimilation from the following /b/.^[5][2][3]

The Late Latin title is found in the Theodosian Code (4th century) for the master of the horse; by 807 Medieval Latin used the clipped form conestabulus for a military commander.^[5][2] Italian connestabile and Spanish condestable were taken from French, reshaped after the Italian and Spanish forms of the Latin word for “count”.^[3] Littré gives also Old Occitan conestable and Portuguese condestável.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Brut (1155) has conestable for a military commander; about 1165–70 Chrétien de Troyes's Erec uses it of an officer of the king's household.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The connétable was at first an officer of the royal household, below the seneschal and in charge of the cavalry, whose importance grew steadily.^[2] In the feudal host he advised the king on war and was often given an army corps, hence the title connestable de France “commander of the king's armies” (1281).^[5][2] Some connétables governed provinces of military importance, and in the 14th and 15th centuries several played a political part.^[2]

Richelieu did not fill the post after 1626 (the TLFi dates the abolition to 1627), and the marshal became the highest military rank.^[2][5] Napoleon I revived the title in 1804 as an honorary dignity, for his brother Louis (grand connétable) and Marshal Berthier (vice-connétable).^[2][5]

The English word constable was borrowed from Old French conestable about 1200, first for a chief household officer.^[7]

Timeline

• 1155 – Conestable “military commander” in Wace's Brut.^[5]
• c. 1165–1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it of an officer of the king's household.^[5]
• 1281 – Connestable de France, the commander of the royal armies.^[5][2]
• 1627 – The office is abolished.^[5]
• 1804 – Napoleon I restores the title as an honorary dignity.^[5][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A great officer of the Crown in medieval France.^[5][8][9]
2. (historical) The commander in chief of the French royal armies, from the 12th to the 17th century: l'épée de connétable.^[5][8]
3. (historical) Under Napoleon I, a high honorary dignitary.^[8]

Related words

• comte
• étable
• Latin stabulum
• English constable

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 941a
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert