emploi

Forms

emploi m (plural emplois)^[1] Middle French employ (1538).^[2][3] In the 16th century the form emploite was also used, compare emplette.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is a deverbal noun from French employer.^[5][6][2][1] The verb comes from Latin implicō (“to fold in, to entangle, to involve”), from which French later also borrowed impliquer.^[5][6] Bloch and Wartburg think its sense “to use” must have arisen in Late Latin.^[6]

Compare Italian impiego, Occitan emplec and Spanish empleo.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

An isolated record of about 1275, in Adenet le Roi's Enfances Ogier, uses it for the use of blows.^[5][7] It reappears as employ in Robert Estienne's dictionary of 1538, meaning “use”.^[5][2][8]

Semantic evolution

The sense “use of a thing” widened with the verb, to the use of a word (1835).^[7] Phrases grew around it: double emploi, in accounting a sum entered twice (1690, Furetière), and figuratively faire double emploi “to be superfluous”, emploi du temps “timetable” (1870) and mode d'emploi.^[7][8]

In the early 17th century the word meant what a person is occupied with; from 1636 it was the paid work of a person, especially of a state official (1660), a sense that came to dominate in the 18th to 20th centuries.^[7][5] On the stage it has meant an actor's type of part since 1775, hence the figurative avoir le physique de l'emploi (1878), with la tête or la gueule in familiar speech.^[7][8] In the 20th century it rendered English employment in economics, the opposite of chômage, and plein-emploi (1949) was formed after full employment.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1275 – An isolated use in the Enfances Ogier.^[5]
• 1538 – Employ “use” in Robert Estienne.^[5][2]
• early 17th century – François de Sales uses it for an occupation.^[5][4]
• 1636 – Monet records it for a paid post.^[5][7]
• 1690 – Double emploi in accounting, in Furetière.^[7][8]
• 1775 – The theatrical sense “type of role”, in Beaumarchais.^[8][7]
• 1870 – Emploi du temps appears in Larousse.^[8][7]
• 1949 – Plein-emploi is formed after English full employment.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The use of a thing, the way it is used: un appareil d'un emploi simple.^[3][5][1]
2. Mode d'emploi: instructions for use.^[3]
3. Emploi du temps: a timetable, a schedule.^[3][1]
4. Faire double emploi: to be redundant.^[3][4]
5. A job, a paid post: être sans emploi, demandeur d'emploi.^[3][1]
6. (economics) employment, the opposite of chômage.^[7][1]
7. (theatre) A type of role: avoir la tête de l'emploi.^[7][8][1]

Word family

• plein-emploi
• sans-emploi
• suremploi

Related words

• employé
• employeur
• impliquer
• emplette
• Latin implicō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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