esclave

Forms

esclave m or f by sense (plural esclaves)^[1] Old French esclave, with the masculine esclaf (13th century).^[2] Anglo-Norman also had eclave.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Medieval Latin sclavus (“slave”) (10th century), a variant of slavus, which properly meant “Slav” (7th century).^[4][5][6] The Latin form is probably a back-formation from a form *sclavone (“Slav”), taken for an accusative, which came from Proto-Slavic *slověninъ (“Slav”);^[4][5][7] Medieval Greek followed the same path.^[4][5][7]

The sense “slave” arose in the early Middle Ages, when Germanic peoples and the Byzantines reduced great numbers of Slavs in the Balkans to slavery.^[4][5][6] Bloch and Wartburg add that Venetian raids on Slavonia during the Crusades are also credited with spreading the sense,^[6] while Littré tied it to the wars of Otto the Great and his successors against the Slavs.^[2] Latin had used servus in this sense, the source of serf.^[5]

The word spread across Europe: Italian schiavo, Spanish esclavo, German Sklave and English slave.^[5][6] As a learned word, it did not regularly develop into a popular form éclave, though that form is found in early modern French.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1175 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie, as a noun for a person without freedom who belongs to a master.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

The word took on very different connotations depending on the society it described, from classical antiquity to the Atlantic slave trade.^[5] From the early 17th century it was applied to someone subject to tyrannical power (1608, Mathurin Régnier), and to a person wholly dominated by a passion, a habit or another person,^[8][4] including the devoted lover of classical literature (1661, Corneille).^[8] It is also used as an adjective: être esclave de son travail.^[8][9]

Its derivatives date from later periods: esclavage from 1577, esclavagiste from 1864.^[6] English slave, first recorded about 1300 as sclave or esclave, came from Old French and directly from Medieval Latin.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for an unfree person.^[4]
• 13th century – The masculine esclaf appears in the histories of the Crusades.^[2]
• 1577 – The derivative esclavage.^[6]
• 1608 – Mathurin Régnier uses it of a person under tyrannical power.^[8]
• 1661 – Corneille uses it of a devoted lover.^[8]
• 1864 – Esclavagiste and antiesclavagiste.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slave, a person who is not free and is the property of a master.^[9][4]
2. A person subject to a tyrannical power or foreign rule.^[8][2]
3. A person wholly dominated by someone or something: esclave du tabac.^[9][4]

Adjective

1. Subject to a master or to something that controls one: être esclave de ses habitudes.^[9][8]

Word family

• esclavage
• esclavagiste

Related words

• serf
• Medieval Latin sclavus
• English slave

Usage notes

Capitalized, Esclave is the French name of the Slavey, an Athabaskan people of Canada, a translation of a Cree word.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 20, 45b
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com