croiser

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kʁwa.ze/^[1]

Forms

croiser^[1] Old French cruisier (about 1100); croiser from the 12th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French croix + -er (Old French crois),^[4][3][1][5] from Latin crux (“cross”), through its accusative.^[6]

Compare Old Occitan crozar, Catalan crusar, Spanish cruzar, Portuguese cruzar and Italian crociare.^[7][8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has cruisier “to lay crosswise”: Cruisiedes ad ses blanches mains les beles (“he has crossed his fair white hands”).^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

In the time of the crusades, long before the word croisade, soi cruisier meant “to take the cross”, to sew a cross on one's garment and vow to go on crusade (1174, Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence), and a croisé was a crusader (12th century).^[4][9]

Se croiser “to meet going in opposite directions” is in Froissart (second half of the 14th century), and Aubigné has croiser le chemin à quelqu'un (1620).^[4][9] The sense “to cut across (a line, a road)” dates from 1660 (Oudin).^[2][10] In the navy (1671, Pomey) a ship croise when it sails to and fro in given waters to watch them, hence croisière (1680) and the modern croiseur “cruiser” (1690).^[4][9][6] The breeders' sense “to cross (animals)” appears before 1782 (Raynal), croiser le fer in fencing in 1835.^[4][9][10] Se croiser les bras has taken the figurative sense “to do nothing”.^[9][2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Cruisier “to lay crosswise”, in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• 1174 – Soi cruisier “to take the cross”.^[4]
• 1195 – Croisement.^[9]
• 2nd half of the 14th century – Se croiser “to pass each other”, in Froissart.^[4]
• 1620 – Croiser le chemin à quelqu'un.^[4]
• 1660 – “To cut across” (Oudin).^[2]
• 1671 – Naval “to cruise” (Pomey).^[4]
• Before 1782 – “To crossbreed”, in Raynal.^[4]
• 1835 – Croiser le fer.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To Cross, to lay one across the other: croiser les jambes, croiser les doigts, to keep one's fingers crossed, se croiser les bras, to sit idle.^[10][1][2]
2. Croiser le fer: to cross swords; figuratively, to clash with someone.^[10][2]
3. To cut across, intersect: La voie ferrée croise la route.^[10][1]
4. To pass (someone going the other way); to come across, run into: croiser quelqu'un, se croiser, to pass each other.^[10][1]
5. To crossbreed (animals, plants).^[1][4]
6. (nautical, intransitive) To cruise, to patrol an area at sea.^[9][4]
7. (historical) Se croiser: to take the cross, to go on crusade.^[4][9]

Word family

• croisade
• croisement
• croiseur
• entrecroiser
• croisière
• croisé

Related words

• croix

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b 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 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1377a
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert