déploiement

Forms

déploiement m (plural déploiements)^[1] Middle French desployement (1538).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French déployer (“to unfold, deploy”) + -ment, from the stem of the verb.^[2][3][1] The verb is from Old French desploier, a derivative of ploier (modern ployer), which continues Latin plicō (“to fold”).^[4][5] Littré also cites a 16th-century noun desploi of the same meaning, used by D'Aubigné.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as desployement in desployement des jambes “stretching out of the legs”, in Robert Estienne's dictionary of 1538, under Latin explicare.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The noun followed the senses of déployer.^[7] From the general sense “action of unfolding, spreading out”, it was used in the army for spreading troops out over a wide front, recorded by the Académie in 1798.^[2][7][8] Figuratively it came to mean a large display or show of something (1828, Guizot), recorded by the Académie in 1835.^[2][8][7]

The Petit Robert adds the modern sense of putting a new system into service or rolling out software to its users, and notes that the word is often pejorative when it means a show without restraint.^[9] The derivative redéploiement, first military, passed into economic language about 1965 for the reorganization of a policy or an industry.^[7]

Timeline

• 1538 – Desployement des jambes appears in Robert Estienne's dictionary.^[2][3]
• 16th century – D'Aubigné uses the noun desploi.^[6]
• 1798 – The Académie records the military sense.^[2][8]
• 1828 – Guizot uses it figuratively for a display.^[2][7]
• 1835 – The Académie records the figurative sense.^[8]
• c. 1965 – Redéploiement is used in economics.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The action of unfolding or spreading out something, or the state of what is spread out: le déploiement d'une bannière.^[9][8][6]
2. (military) The deployment of troops from marching order into a combat or holding formation over an area.^[8][6][9]
3. A wide extent or spread: a town notable for the spread of its boulevards.^[8][2]
4. A large-scale use or display of something: un déploiement de forces de l'ordre.^[9][8]
5. The putting into service of a new system, or the rollout of software to its users.^[9]
6. (often pejorative) An unrestrained show, an ostentation: un déploiement de luxe.^[9]

Word family

• redéploiement

Related words

• déployer
• ployer
• plier
• redéployer
• Latin plicō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert