enchevêtrer

Forms

enchevêtrer^[1] Old French enchevestrer; the spelling without ⟨s⟩ dates from the 15th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French enchevestrer, inherited from Late Latin incapistrō (“to put a halter on”),^[4][5][6] formed on capistrum (“muzzle, halter”), which also gave chevêtre.^[5] Rey calls the origin of the Latin noun uncertain.^[5] The Robert dictionaries, the GLLF and Littré instead analyse the verb as formed in French from the prefix en- and that noun with the verb ending.^[7][8][2][3]

Cognate with Catalan encabestrar, Occitan encabestrar, Spanish encabestrar, Portuguese encabrestar, Italian incapestrare and Romanian încăpăstra.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1174–1176 in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's life of Thomas Becket, meaning “to put a halter on” a mare, which its master had haltered even with hay: Nis de fain l’aveit fait sis maistre enchevestrer.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The original sense, the Latin one, has gone out of use.^[5] A figurative use is found by about 1220 in Gautier de Coinci.^[4] As a building term it is recorded at the end of the 14th century, then seems to have dropped out and was taken up again in 1802 for joining joists with a chevêtre.^[5][2] In the classical period it also meant “to tie fast” (1649),^[5] a sense the GLLF finds in Scarron in 1648.^[2]

In the 16th century the verb took on, by analogy, its present sense “to engage the parts of something in one another”, hence “to tangle”, common in the past participle and the pronominal s'enchevêtrer (1541);^[5] the pronominal came to mean “to get muddled” in the 18th century.^[5] The noun enchevêtrement (1564) belongs to this sense.^[5]

Timeline

• 1174–1176 – Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses enchevestrer for putting a halter on a mare.^[4]
• c. 1220 – A figurative use appears in Gautier de Coinci's Miracles.^[4]
• 1328 – The building term enchevêtrure is recorded.^[5]
• 1389–1392 – A technical use appears in the accounts of Nevers.^[4]
• 1541 – The pronominal s'enchevêtrer “to become tangled” is recorded.^[5]
• 1564 – The derivative enchevêtrement appears.^[5]
• 1649 – It is used for “to tie fast”.^[5]
• 1802 – The carpentry sense “to join joists with a trimmer” is taken up again.^[5][2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (obsolete) To put a halter on a horse.^[8][4]
2. (pronominal, obsolete) Of a horse: to catch its leg in the rope of its halter.^[3][8]
3. (technical) To join joists with a chevêtre (trimmer).^[8][3]
4. To entangle, to mix things together in disorder: Le vent a enchevêtré les branches.^[8][4]
5. (pronominal) To become tangled: Les fils s'enchevêtrent derrière la télévision.^[8][1]
6. (figurative) To muddle, to complicate (a plot, an argument), and pronominal, to get muddled.^[3][8]

Word family

• enchevêtrement
• enchevêtrure

Related words

• chevêtre
• Latin capistrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 252a
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert