détroit

Forms

détroit m (plural détroits)^[1] Old French destreit, later destroit;^[2][3][4] Rabelais writes destroict.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French destreit (“narrow”), inherited from Latin districtus (“hindered, bound, hesitant”), the past participle of distringō (“to hold apart, bind on both sides”).^[4][2][5] The Latin verb is formed from dis- and stringō (“to draw tight, bind”), the source of étreindre.^[2][6] The noun is the Old French adjective used substantively.^[6][2][7] The same Latin word gave détresse, and was borrowed as district.^[2][1]

The word is found only in Gallo-Romance: compare Old Occitan destrech.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) destreiz is first an adjective, les destreiz passages “the narrow passes”, and also a noun, les destreiz “the narrow passes”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Only the noun survived,^[2] and it meant a narrow pass between mountains until the 17th or 18th century, and the Académie still gave le détroit des Thermopyles in 1835.^[2][7][4] Until the 16th century the adjective and noun also had senses close to those of détresse (distress, hardship), and the figurative sense “critical moment” has become dated.^[7][3][2]

The modern sense, a narrow arm of the sea, is recorded in Rabelais (1534) and became the usual one in the 17th century.^[4][2] By analogy with the old “narrow passage”, anatomy uses it for the narrowings of the pelvis (1833).^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Destreiz “narrow (passes)” in the Chanson de Roland.^[4][2]
• 1534 – Rabelais uses destroict for an arm of the sea.^[4][2]
• 1694 – The Académie still gives the mountain sense.^[6]
• 1833 – First anatomical use for the pelvis.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strait, a narrow arm of the sea between two land masses: le détroit de Gibraltar.^[8][4]
2. (anatomy) Each of the two narrowings of the bony pelvis.^[8][3]
3. (dated) A narrow pass between mountains, a défilé.^[4][3]

Related words

• détresse
• district
• étroit
• étreindre
• Latin districtus

Usage notes

The city of Detroit, a French fort founded in 1701, takes its name from détroit “strait”.^[9][1]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. 3, 100b
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com