escapade

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɛs.ka.pad/^[1]

Forms

escapade f (plural escapades)^[1]

Etymology

According to the TLFi and Rey it is borrowed from Spanish escapada (“escape”) (recorded only from 1630), the feminine past participle used as a noun of “escapar”, of the same origin as échapper;^[2][3][4][5] Italian “scappata”, also proposed, meant “mistake” in the 16th century and does not fit the sense.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the GLLF hesitate between the two, and Littré chose Italian.^[6][7][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Brantôme (1575) has it for the act of escaping;^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert date it to about 1570.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “flight, escape” has gone out of use (d'Aubigné uses it of an escape from prison), as has the figurative “digression” (Montaigne's gaillardes escapades of Plutarch).^[3][9][4] In riding it was also said of a horse (1611).^[6] It now means getting away from the obligations and habits of daily life, a brief spell of freedom, usually with a trip (faire une petite escapade, Chateaubriand's mon escapade de Brest).^[3][8][4] Littré notes a 15th-century eschapeillon “peccadillo”.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1570 – First record.^[6]
• 1575 – “Escape”, in Brantôme.^[2]
• 1580 – “Digression”, in Montaigne.^[9]
• 1611 – Of a horse.^[6]
• 1630 – Spanish escapada.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An escapade, jaunt, spree: faire une escapade à la campagne.^[5][4]
2. (dated) An escape, getting away (from supervision).^[5][4]

Related words

• échapper
• échappée
• chape

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette