Etymologically
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coucher

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ku.ʃe/[1]

Forms

coucher[1] Old French colcer (about 1050), culcer, culcher (1080), couchier (1172); coucher from the end of the 14th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French colcer, inherited from Latin collocō (“to place, set in position”), from com- and locō (“to place”).[4][2][5][6][1] In Latin “collocāre” was already used of placing something horizontally; from the Vulgate on, “se collocare” and “collocare super lectulum” meant “to go to bed, put to bed”, a sense also found in Romanian culca and Italian coricare.[5][2] It is a doublet of the learned colloquer.[1] “Locō” also gave louer “to rent”.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis as the reflexive soi colcer avoc, “to share someone's bed”.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) se coucher means “to lie down for the night”, and is said of the setting sun, soleil culchant “west” is in Wace (1155).[4][2] The transitive “to put to bed” is in Chrétien de Troyes (1172), and “to lay down at full length” in the Roland.[4] The familiar coucher avec “to sleep with” dates from 1539, and allez vous coucher ! “go away!” from 1835.[4][2]

Old French coucher also meant “to write down” (13th–17th centuries), as in coucher par écrit; the military “to aim at” (coucher en joue) belongs to the same idea of laying something flat.[5][1] Se coucher replaced Old French gésir, as accoucher replaced agésir.[5] The infinitive became a noun, le coucher, recorded as couchier in 1285.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – Soi colcer avoc in the Vie de saint Alexis.[4]
  • c. 1100 – Sei culcer “to lie down”; of a star, in the Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1172 – “To put to bed”, in Chrétien de Troyes.[4]
  • 12th century – Couche, accoucher.[5]
  • 1285 – The noun couchier.[3]
  • 1539 – Coucher avec, in Robert Estienne.[4]
  • 1835 – Allez vous coucher !.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lay down, lay flat: coucher un blessé; to flatten (wheat).[1][4]
  2. To put to bed; to put up (a guest).[1]
  3. Se coucher: to go to bed; to lie down, (of the sun) to set.[1][4]
  4. (intransitive) To sleep, spend the night: coucher à l'hôtel.[1]
  5. Coucher avec: to sleep with (familiar).[1][4]
  6. Coucher par écrit: to set down in writing, coucher en joue: to aim at.[5][1]

Noun

  1. Going to bed: l'heure du coucher; the setting: le coucher du soleil.[3][7]

Word family

  • couche
  • couchage
  • couchette
  • coucheur
  • couchant
  • accoucher
  • découcher
  • recoucher

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 905a
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette