Etymologically
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espace

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Belgium, France): /ɛs.pas/[1]
  • IPA: /ɛs.ˈpa.sə/[1]
  • IPA (Canada): /ɛs.pɑɔ̯s/[1]
  • IPA (Canada): /ɛs.pɑːs/[1]

Forms

espace m (plural espaces)[1] Old French espace, spaze (about 1200); often feminine until the 16th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin spatium (“racecourse, arena; open space, extent; interval of time”), a word of obscure origin.[2][5][3][4][6][1]

Compare Occitan espaci, Spanish espacio and Italian spazio.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace (1160–74) uses it for a space of time, a duration, the commonest sense before the 16th century (en l'espace d'un mois): Pour avoir plus d'espace de leur chose arreer “to have more time to arrange their affairs”, says Berte (13th century).[2][5][7]

Semantic evolution

About 1200 it is the extent of a place (lo spaze del cortil), and, from 1314 (Henri de Mondeville) the distance between two points, an interval, whence d'espace en espace.[2][5] In printing (1680) une espace kept the old feminine.[5][3][4] Du Bellay (mid-16th century) has le grand espace du ciel, and Pascal (1662) the infinite expanse of the universe.[2][5]

It became a scientific term with Descartes (1647), the medium in which phenomena take place, and in geometry (1691).[2][5] The 20th century added espace vital (about 1938, adapted from German Lebensraum), espace aérien (about 1960), espace vert and the sense “outer space”, as in conquête de l'espace.[5][8]

Timeline

  • 1160–1174 – “Duration”, Wace.[2]
  • c. 1200 – Spaze “extent”.[2]
  • 1314 – “Interval, distance”, Mondeville.[2]
  • Mid-16th century – Le grand espace du ciel, Du Bellay.[2]
  • 1647 – A scientific term, Descartes.[2]
  • 1662 – The expanse of the universe, Pascal.[2]
  • 1680 – Une espace in printing.[5][4]
  • c. 1938 – Espace vital.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. space, room: manquer d'espace; a gap, interval: laisser un espace entre deux mots.[8][1]
  2. An area, place: espace vert, espace aérien, espace de travail.[5][8]
  3. (philosophy, science) Space, the medium in which things exist: l'espace et le temps, (mathematics) espace vectoriel.[2][8]
  4. Outer space: la conquête de l'espace.[8][1]
  5. En l'espace de: within the space of (a time).[5]
  6. (feminine, typography) A space between words or letters.[8][1]

Word family

  • espacer
  • espacement
  • spatial

Usage notes

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give a separate numbered entry to the feminine espace of printers (1680), which kept the gender the word often had in Old French.[4][8][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. 12, 144b
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  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