coupé

Forms

coupé (feminine coupée, masculine plural coupés, feminine plural coupées)^[1] As a noun coupé is masculine: un coupé, plural coupés.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is from French couper (“to cut”), its past participle, used first as an adjective and then as a noun.^[3][4][2] The carriage was first a carrosse coupé, a coach with only one seat, from couper son carrosse "to have one of the two seats of one's coach removed" (Furetière, 1690).^[3][5] The dance step goes with the verb as a dancing term, recorded by Richelet in 1680.^[3][6]

couper is derived from coup, from Vulgar Latin colpus, from Latin colaphus (“a blow with the fist”), borrowed from Ancient Greek κόλαφος (kólaphos, “blow, cuff”).^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1660 a collection of prose pieces published by Sercy speaks of a carrosse coupé, a coach shaped like a berline whose front compartment had been cut away.^[3] The noun coupé for a dance step follows in 1661, in Molière's Les Fâcheux.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

As a noun the word first named a closed, four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with two seats, with a driver's seat in front.^[3][5][8] From the 19th century it was moved to other closed compartments: the front compartment of a stagecoach (1832) and a railway compartment with a single bench (1863, Littré).^[5][9] Early in the 20th century it passed to the motor car, first a town car with a closed rear body, then a two-door car;^[5][8] the Quemada datings find the motoring sense in Maurois (1928).^[10] Fencing also used coupé for a kind of thrust from 1859.^[10]

The adjective keeps the senses of the participle: cut or severed, cut to a given shape (of a garment), divided or interrupted (of a road, or of troops whose retreat is cut off), and mixed with another liquid (of wine).^[2][9][3] Architecture has pan coupé for a flat face replacing a corner, and in heraldry an escutcheon coupé is divided across the middle.^[5][2][9]

Timeline

• 1660 – Carrosse coupé is recorded for a coach with its front compartment cut away.^[3][2]
• 1661 – Molière uses coupé for a dance step in Les Fâcheux.^[3][5]
• 1680 – Richelet records couper as a dancing term.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records couper son carrosse.^[3][5]
• 1832 – It names the front compartment of a stagecoach.^[5]
• 1859 – First record as a fencing term.^[10]
• 1863 – Littré records it for a railway compartment with one bench.^[5][9]
• Early 20th century – It is applied to a type of motor car.^[5]
• 1928 – The motoring sense is found in Maurois.^[10]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Cut, severed, cut into pieces: une baguette coupée en tranches.^[2][3]
2. Of a garment, cut in a given way: un manteau bien coupé.^[2][3]
3. Divided, interrupted: une route coupée.^[2] Of troops, cut off from their line of retreat.^[2][9]
4. Of a drink, mixed with another liquid, diluted: du vin rouge coupé d'eau.^[2]
5. (architecture) Pan coupé: a flat surface replacing the corner where two walls meet.^[2][5][9]
6. (heraldry) Of an escutcheon, divided into two equal parts by a horizontal line.^[5][1][2]

Noun

1. (historical) A closed four-wheeled horse-drawn carriage with two seats.^[3][5][8]
2. (historical) The front compartment of a stagecoach.^[5][2][8]
3. A two-door car, often sporty in shape: un coupé décapotable.^[2][3]
4. (dance, dated) A step in which the leg carrying the weight of the body takes the place of the other.^[5][2]

Related words

• couper
• coup
• coupure

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 l m n o Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 869b
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF