débaucher

Forms

débaucher^[1] Old French desbauchier; the reflexive soi desbauchier is recorded about 1300.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French des- + bauch (“beam”), the Old French word also written bauc, now bau.^[2][3][4] This noun is from Frankish *balk, of the same family as Old High German balko and German Balken, and the same Frankish word gave balcon.^[5][3] On this view the verb first meant “to rough-hew timber into beams”, as ébaucher did, hence “to split, separate”, then “to draw someone away from work” and “from duty”.^[2][5] Rey notes that this explanation has to assume senses that are never recorded;^[3] Pierre Guiraud preferred to derive it from regional bauche (“house”), earlier “mud and straw mortar”, but that idea has problems of its own.^[3] The Petit Robert gives both bases as possible, and Littré took the second as “workshop”, a word of unknown origin.^[6][7] Wiktionary treats it as inherited from Old French desbaucher.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Ambroise's Estoire de la guerre sainte (1195), uses it of people in the sense “to scatter, to disperse”; about 1300 the reflexive meant “to leave, set off”.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

Old French knew only the sense “to scatter (people)”.^[3] In the 15th century the verb narrowed in two directions.^[3] In working life it meant “to draw someone away from his work or his obligations” (1469), and Nicot in 1606 defines it as making a workman leave his master's service; the figurative sense “to turn someone from his duties” is found in Racine in 1687.^[2][3] The moral sense “to lead astray, entice into misconduct” appears in the early 15th century, of men's wives, and “to plunge someone into débauche” is in Robert Estienne in 1538.^[2][3]

From 1812, first in printers' slang, it also meant “to lay off a worker for lack of work”, the opposite of embaucher.^[2][3] In the regional French of the west, from Brittany to Aquitaine, it means “to stop work at the end of the day”.^[3] Today the moral sense is dated, while “to lure an employee away from another employer” is current.^[6] English debauch (1590s, “to entice, seduce”) was borrowed from the French verb.^[8]

Timeline

• 1195 – Desbauchier “to scatter (people)” appears in Ambroise.^[2]
• c. 1300 – The reflexive is used for “to leave” by Guillaume Guiart.^[2][3]
• Early 15th century – It is used of leading wives astray, in the Livre de Boucicaut.^[2]
• 1469 – First record of the spelling debaucher, for drawing someone from his obligations.^[2][3]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne records “to plunge someone into debauchery”.^[2][3]
• 1549 – The past participle desbauché is used as an adjective.^[2][3]
• 1590s – English borrows it as debauch.^[8]
• 1606 – Nicot records “to make a workman leave his master”.^[2]
• 1687 – Racine uses the figurative “to turn from one's obligations”.^[2][3]
• 1812 – Boiste records the printers' sense “to lay off a worker”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lure someone away from their work or occupation; to induce someone to break their commitments or to defect: débaucher les ouvriers d'un concurrent.^[6][2]
2. To persuade an employee to leave their job for another employer; to poach or headhunt: débaucher une ingénieure.^[6][1]
3. To lay off a worker for lack of work.^[6][2]
4. (dated) To lead someone astray from their duties; to corrupt or debauch.^[6][7]
5. (familiar) To tempt someone away from their work or habits with some amusement: se laisser débaucher par un ami.^[6][7]

Word family

• débauche
• débauché
• débaucheur
• débauchage

Related words

• bau
• ébaucher
• embaucher
• balcon
• English debauch

Usage notes

In the west of France, from Brittany to Aquitaine, débaucher is also used intransitively for knocking off work at the end of the day, and débauche for the end of the working day.^[3]

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 l m n o p q r 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 37a
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com