corvée

Forms

corvée f (plural corvées)^[1] Old French corovée (12th century) and Picard corowée (13th century).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French corvee, inherited from Late Latin corrogāta (“requested work”) (with opera (“work”) understood), the work owed to the lord, at first the ploughing of the lord's own land counted in days (861).^[5][2][6] The Latin word is the feminine past participle of corrogō (“to call together, invite, solicit”), formed with com- on rogō (“to ask”).^[5][2][7][1] A contracted form Medieval Latin corvada is found in the Capitulare de villis (8th–9th century) and may be the direct source of the French form.^[5][2][4]

Bloch and Wartburg note that the word first named help that small farmers lent each other freely, before it came to mean work imposed on dependants by great landowners; it is only Gallo-Romance, as Old Occitan corroada.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1170–1174, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie, as a term of feudal law: unpaid work owed to the lord.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Until it was abolished on the night of 4 August 1789, the corvée was the unpaid work of men and beasts that serfs and commoners owed their lord, a system probably going back to the late Roman Empire.^[2][8][5] From about 1460 (Villon) the word also meant figuratively any thankless, tiresome task.^[5][2]

After the abolition it was used for tasks that the members of a community do in turn, first in the army (Académie, 1835).^[2][5][8] In Canada it is collective unpaid work done to help a neighbour, and in Switzerland, since 1492, voluntary work of public interest done for a community.^[2][9] English borrowed corvee from Old French in the mid-14th century.^[10]

Timeline

• 861 – Medieval Latin corrogata names ploughing service on the lord's land.^[5]
• 1170–1174 – Corvée in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie.^[5]
• Mid-14th century – English borrows it as corvee.^[10]
• c. 1460 – Villon uses it figuratively, in the Testament.^[5]
• 1492 – First Swiss record of work owed to a community, at Porrentruy.^[9]
• 1789 – The corvées are abolished on the night of 4 August.^[2][8]
• 1835 – The Académie records the military sense.^[5][8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history, law) Unpaid labour owed by serfs and commoners to their lord under the feudal system, until 1789.^[11][5]
2. (figurative) A tiresome, unavoidable task, a chore: les corvées domestiques.^[11][12]
3. (military) A fatigue duty done in turn by the men of a unit: corvée de pluches.^[11][1]
4. (Switzerland, Canada) Voluntary group work of public interest, or unpaid help given to a neighbour.^[9][2]

Word family

• corvéable

Related words

• abroger
• interroger
• proroger
• Latin rogō

Usage notes

Taillable et corvéable à merci, of legal origin, survives figuratively for someone who can be exploited at will.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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 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, 1226b
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c Base de données lexicographiques panfrancophone (BDLP), Trésor de la langue française au Québec / Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, bdlp.org
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)