drapeau

Forms

drapeau m (plural drapeaux)^[1] Old French drapel, plural drapiaus, from which drapeau was remade.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French drapel, formed from French drap + -eau “a small piece of cloth”.^[2][4][1] drap is from Late Latin drappus, a word of the 5th century, probably of Gaulish origin.^[5][6][7]

The military sense of a flag is due to the influence of Italian drappello, formed in the same way and found in the sense “banner” before 1388.^[2][3][8] Bloch and Wartburg present this influence as possible only.^[5]

It is cognate with Old Occitan drapel, Catalan drapet and Spanish trapillo.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as drapel in 1119, in Philippe de Thaon's Comput, meaning a piece of cloth, a rag, and by extension a garment.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages drapel meant a piece of cloth or a rag and also a garment, a sense found until the 16th century;^[2][5] in the plural drapiaus it named the swaddling clothes of a baby.^[2][3] In central French this use lasted until the 18th century (Trévoux calls it old in 1752), and it survives in regional French from the north to the south.^[3] The Académie in 1694 still records vieux drapeaux de linge as the rags used to make paper.^[10]

In 1578 Henri Estienne noted that drapeau had newly begun to replace enseigne for the flag of the infantry.^[2][3] The word then spread and took symbolic values: a rallying sign (1784), and a person standing for a cause (1870).^[3] Sous les drapeaux (1792) means in the army.^[3] From the 1920s to about 1950–1960 it also named the lever on a taxi meter, and planter un drapeau (1894) meant to leave without paying.^[3]

Timeline

• 1119 – Drapel “piece of cloth” in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2]
• 13th century – The plural drapiaus for swaddling clothes.^[2][3]
• before 1388 – Italian drappello in the sense “banner”.^[2]
• 1578 – Henri Estienne records drapeau as the new word for a flag.^[2][3]
• 1752 – Trévoux calls the sense “swaddling clothes” old.^[2][3]
• 1784 – “Rallying sign”.^[3][10]
• 1792 – Sous les drapeaux “in the army”.^[3]
• 1894 – Planter un drapeau “to leave a debt unpaid”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piece of cloth fixed to a staff or mast, bearing the colours or emblems of a nation or group, used as a flag, a rallying sign or a symbol: hisser le drapeau (to raise the flag).^[8][2]
2. Sous les drapeaux: in the army, doing military service.^[3][8]
3. (figurative) A cause or idea one rallies to.^[3][8]
4. A small signal flag.^[2]
5. (obsolete) A piece of cloth, a rag; in the plural, swaddling clothes.^[8][9]
6. (Louisiana) A baby's nappy.^[1]

Word family

• porte-drapeau
• drapelet

Related words

• drap
• draper
• draperie

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c 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. 3, 154b
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse