conservatoire

conservatoire¹ conserving, protective

Etymology tree of conservatoire¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin servō

Italian serbare

Romanian serba

Spanish servar

Latin cōnservō

English conserve

French conserver

French conservatoire

Italian conservare

Spanish conservar

From the same root · conservatoire¹

Latin observō ← servō

Latin praeservō ← servō

Latin reservō ← servō

Latin servātor ← servō

Romanian sărbătoare ← serba

Latin conservantia ← cōnservō

Latin cōnservātiō ← cōnservō

Latin conservātīvus ← cōnservō

Latin cōnservātor ← cōnservō

English conservancy ← conserve

Pronunciation

• /kɔ̃.sɛʁ.va.twaʁ/^[1]

Forms

conservatoire (plural conservatoires)^[1]

Etymology

The adjective meaning “conserving, protective” is formed from French conserver + -atoire.^[2][3][4] The TLFi compares Medieval Latin cōnservātōrius, and Wiktionary describes it as a learned formation on the stem of Latin cōnservō (“to keep, preserve”), like conservation.^[2][1] The GLLF and the Petit Robert date it to about 1361, in Oresme.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Nicole Oresme's translation of Aristotle's Politics (1370–1377), lieu conservatoire is a place where something, here the produce of the land, is kept.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has lived mainly in law: a juge conservatoire is recorded in 1567 and actes conservatoires, steps that protect a right, in 1769.^[2][4] The GLLF dates the present sense to Féraud's dictionary of 1787.^[5] Rey notes that it is also used in social and political contexts, of what keeps something or someone in the same state.^[4] The learned conservatif, borrowed in the 15th century, was for a time a synonym, but it went out of use.^[4]

Timeline

• 1370–1377 – Oresme uses lieu conservatoire of a store for farm produce.^[2]
• 1567 – Juge conservatoire appears in Jean Papon's collection of decrees.^[2][4]
• 1769 – Ferrière's law dictionary records actes conservatoires.^[2][4]
• 1787 – Féraud records the modern sense.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (law) Intended to preserve property or rights under threat until a final decision is reached: acte conservatoire, mesure conservatoire, saisie conservatoire.^[6][7][8]
2. Intended to keep something in the same state: Le maire a pris des mesures conservatoires.^[2][9]

conservatoire² conservatory, music school

Pronunciation

• /kɔ̃.sɛʁ.va.twaʁ/^[1]

Forms

conservatoire m (plural conservatoires)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the music school is borrowed from Italian conservatorio, a noun use of the Italian adjective meaning “preserving”; the Italian word had named schools of music in Naples, Venice and Palermo since the 16th century.^[2][4] It is derived from conservare (“to preserve”).^[3][10] Rey sees in the name the idea of keeping up the tradition, and the standard, of an art.^[4] Wiktionary instead analyses it as a French formation from conserver, corresponding to the post-classical noun Latin cōnservātōrium.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found once in 1714 meaning a “hospice”.^[3][4] The sense “school where singing, music and dance are taught” is recorded in 1778, in Bachaumont's Mémoires secrets.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Littré records the old sense of a house where orphans, girls and women were taken in to protect them from vice.^[8] The Paris Conservatoire de musique was founded in 1784 according to Littré and in 1789 according to Rey, on the model of the Italian schools.^[8][4] The same idea of keeping a tradition alive gave the Conservatoire des arts et métiers, founded in 1794, a collection of machines and models with technical courses.^[2][8][4] By extension any school that trains musicians, dancers or actors is a conservatoire.^[6][8] Littré also gives the sense “body of the curators of an institution”.^[8]

English conservatory “school of music” (1805) comes from the Italian or the French word.^[11]

Timeline

• 1714 – Recorded once meaning “hospice”.^[3][4]
• 1778 – Bachaumont uses it for a school of music.^[2][5]
• 1784 – Founding of the Paris Conservatoire de musique, according to Littré.^[8]
• 1794 – The decree founding the Conservatoire des arts et métiers.^[2][5]
• 1805 – English conservatory is first recorded in the sense “school of music”.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A school that trains musicians, dancers or actors: un conservatoire municipal.^[6][9]
2. le Conservatoire: in France, the national conservatory of music or of dramatic art in Paris.^[6][9]
3. Conservatoire national des arts et métiers: a Paris institution founded in 1794 that keeps collections on the history of technology and gives courses.^[6][9]
4. (historical) A hospice where orphans, girls and women were sheltered.^[8][3]