escadron

Forms

escadron m (plural escadrons)^[1] Middle French escuadron and esquadron (late 15th century), escadron from before 1526, and in the 16th century mostly squadron or scadron.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian squadrone (“armed troop”), borrowed in the last quarter of the 15th century.^[5][3][6] The Italian word, recorded before 1470, is an augmentative in -one of squadra.^[5][4][6] That noun properly means a carpenter's square, hence a battalion drawn up in a square; it comes from Vulgar Latin *exquadra, like French équerre.^[6][7] Meyer-Lübke lists it under *exquadrō (“to make square”).^[8] Picoche places the word in the family of quatre.^[7]

Spanish escuadrón and Portuguese esquadrão were also taken from the Italian word.^[8] The English word squadron was taken straight from Italian in the 1560s.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Molinet first uses it in his Chroniques, in the late 15th century, of armed troops, noting that since the Italians had entered the service of the house of Burgundy they were counted en escades et escadrons.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Formerly an escadron was a troop of horsemen or, more generally, of fighters.^[6][4][10] Bussy-Rabutin's saying of 1677, Dieu est d'ordinaire pour les gros escadrons contre les petits, comes from that use.^[4][11] From 1555 it was also used of any large group of people, a sense the Grand Larousse first finds in Du Bellay before 1559.^[12][6][2] Littré records escadron volant, the cardinals in a conclave who professed to take no court's side.^[10]

Since the 19th century it has been the military term for a subdivision of a cavalry regiment, and then of armoured units, the gendarmerie and the army's transport corps.^[6][5] In the early 20th century it was applied to a unit of military aviation.^[2][13] The phrase escadrons de la mort is used of armed groups that carry out punitive killings.^[6]

Timeline

• 1475–1500 – Jean Molinet uses escadrons in his Chroniques.^[5][3]
• Before 1526 – The spelling escadron appears in Jean Marot.^[2]
• 1555 – It is used of a group of people in general.^[12][6]
• 1636 – Monet records it as a unit of a cavalry regiment.^[2]
• 1677 – Bussy-Rabutin writes that God is usually on the side of the big squadrons.^[4]
• 1694 – The first edition of the Académie dictionary includes it.^[5]
• Early 20th century – It names a unit of military aviation.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) A troop of soldiers on horseback.^[4][11][13]
2. (military) A squadron: a unit of a regiment of cavalry, armour, the gendarmerie or the transport corps, made up of platoons under a captain: Le deuxième escadron partit à l'aube.^[11][13][5]
3. Chef d'escadrons: a senior officer commanding a group of squadrons of cavalry or armour, chef d'escadron one commanding a unit of artillery, gendarmerie or transport.^[2][11]
4. (military) A unit of the air force.^[11][13][2]
5. (figurative, humorous) A large group of people: un escadron de cousins.^[11][14][2]

Related words

• escadre
• escadrille
• escouade
• équerre
• Italian squadrone
• English squadron

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
13. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
14. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)