déclore

Forms

déclore^[1] Old French desclore.^[2][1] A defective verb: Littré gives only je déclos, il déclôt, the future, the conditional, the subjunctive and the participle déclos.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from French dé- + clore, Old French desclore, the simple verb coming from Latin claudō (“to close”).^[2][4][5][6] Wiktionary also compares Latin disclūdō and the reconstructed Vulgar Latin *disclaudō.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan desclaure, Catalan descloure and Italian dischiudere.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) desclore means to break open armour, a hauberk: l'escut lui freint, et l'haubert lui desclot “he breaks his shield and opens his hauberk”.^[2][7][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to break open” is found only in Old French.^[2] From 1174, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Thomas Becket, the verb means “to open”.^[2] The sense “to remove the enclosure of” follows about 1265, in Jean de Meun.^[7] It was already old-fashioned in the 17th century,^[7] and has lived on as a law term, droit de déclore, the right to open a fence to pass when the road is impassable, and in literary use of things opened, such as flowers, lips or eyelids.^[7][3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Desclore “to break open (armour)” in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• 1174 – “To open”, in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[2]
• c. 1265 – “To remove the enclosure of”, in Jean de Meun.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (dated) To remove the fence or clôture around a piece of land: déclore un champ.^[8][2][3]
2. (law) Droit de déclore: the right to open a fence so as to pass when the road is impassable.^[7][3][2]
3. (literary) To open something that was closed: Il garda les paupières à demi décloses.^[2][7][1]

Related words

• clore
• éclore
• enclore
• Latin claudō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ 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, 749b
7. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert