désarmement

Forms

désarmement m (plural désarmements)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French désarmer + -ment.^[2][3][4][1] The verb désarmer goes back to about 1080 (Chanson de Roland), and is formed on armer, inherited from Latin armō (“to equip, arm”).^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF dates the noun to 1594, from Godefroy, for taking someone's weapons away;^[7][5][3] Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert give the same year.^[7][5][3] The TLFi's first example is from Agrippa d'Aubigné's Histoire (1616): aux desarmemens.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

From the act of disarming a person, the word was used specially for the discharge of soldiers (1636), a sense now obsolete.^[6] Furetière (1690) records the reduction or suppression of a state's armed forces.^[2][7] At sea, from 1689, it is the laying up of a ship, stripped of its guns, stores and crew; for a merchant ship, the discharge of its crew.^[6][7] In fencing it is a stroke that knocks the weapon out of the opponent's hand.^[2][8]

Rey notes that the political sense, the cutting down of a country's armies (1864), came before the matching use of the verb désarmer, which became common after the Treaty of Versailles; since then both words have been in everyday use, as in désarmement nucléaire.^[6][4]

Timeline

• 1594 – First record, for taking a person's weapons away.^[7][5][6]
• 1616 – Agrippa d'Aubigné uses the plural desarmemens.^[2][8]
• 1636 – It is used for discharging soldiers.^[6]
• 1689 – A naval sense, the laying up of a ship, appears.^[6]
• 1690 – Furetière records the reduction of armed forces.^[2][7]
• 1864 – It is used for cutting down a country's armies.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of taking someone's weapons away, or its result: le désarmement des rebelles.^[2][4][7]
2. The removal of the guns and war material of a fortress.^[7][4]
3. Disarmament, the reduction or abolition of a country's armed forces and armaments: désarmement nucléaire.^[2][4][1]
4. (nautical) The laying up of a ship, whose equipment, stores and crew are taken off, un bassin de désarmement.^[4][7]
5. (fencing) A stroke that knocks the weapon out of the opponent's hand.^[2][8]

Related words

• désarmer
• armement
• réarmement
• armer

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d 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 h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette