employer

Forms

employer^[1] Old French empleier (1080), emploier (late 12th century); the spelling employer is found about 1360 in Froissart.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French empleier, inherited from Latin implicō (“to fold in, entangle”).^[4][5][6] The Latin verb, properly “to fold into”, also meant “to entwine, involve” and “to put, place”;^[4][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg think the sense “to use” must have arisen in Late Latin.^[4][6][7] It is a compound of in- (“in”) and plicō (“to fold”), the source of plier and ployer.^[6][2] The later learned borrowing of the same verb is impliquer.^[4][1]

Cognate with Italian impiegare, Old Occitan emplegar, Catalan emplegar, Spanish emplear and Portuguese empregar.^[8][9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it means “to use, deal out” blows or a weapon: Or guart chascuns que granz cops i empleit (“now let each take care to strike great blows there”).^[4][6][8]

Semantic evolution

From “to use, deal out” came wider uses: employer son temps (about 1220), employer de l'argent (1456), employer un mot (1671), and “to use as a material or for a purpose” (1412).^[6] With a person as object it meant “to make use of someone's services” from the late 14th century, then, from 1636, “to have someone work for one”, the sense behind employé (1723) and employeur (1794).^[6][4][7] Medieval senses such as “to entrust a crown or a country” (13th century) and the reflexive “to marry” have disappeared.^[6]

The reflexive s'employer à “to devote oneself to” dates from 1370–1380 and was taken up in sport in 1880.^[4][6] English employ was borrowed from Old French in the early 15th century; the sense “to hire” appears in English in the 1580s.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Empleier in the Chanson de Roland, which Rey and the GLLF date 1080.^[4][6][2]
• c. 1220 – Employer son temps.^[6]
• c. 1360 – The spelling employer in Froissart.^[2]
• 1370–1380 – S'employer à “to devote oneself to”.^[4]
• 1539 – The noun emploi.^[7]
• 1636 – Monet records “to have someone in one's service”.^[4]
• 1723 – Employé as a noun, “employee”.^[4]
• 1794 – employeur.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To use a thing for a purpose: a tool, a material, a product, a sum of money.^[11][4]
2. To use something abstract: a word or phrase, a method, force, one's time.^[11][6]
3. To employ someone, to have them work for pay.^[11][4]
4. S'employer: to be used.^[1]
5. S'employer à: to devote oneself to, work hard at.^[4][6]
6. Employer les grands moyens: to resort to drastic measures.^[1][11]

Word family

• emploi
• employeur
• remployer
• employé
• employable

Related words

• impliquer
• plier
• ployer
• Latin implicō
• English employ

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 594a
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert