façade

Forms

façade f (plural façades)^[1] First written fassade (1565); Cotgrave has façade and faciate in 1611.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg note the form facciate in Cotgrave.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian facciata (“one side of a building”), attested from the late 13th century and formed from faccia (“face”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Italian noun comes, like face, from Vulgar Latin *facia.^[3] Wiktionary traces it to Latin faciēs (“face”).^[1] The spelling with ⟨ç⟩ (1611) remade the earlier fassade (1565).^[3][2] Bloch and Wartburg compare the suffix with that of cavalcade.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as fassade in 1565 in the accounts of the king's buildings, for the outer wall of a building.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the Italian sense of a side of a building, now chiefly the front in which the main entrance opens.^[3][6] About the middle of the 19th century it took the figurative sense of an appearance that hides the reality of something or someone.^[3][7] A familiar sense “face” (1872) comes from a pun on face and is found only in phrases such as se refaire la façade and démolir la façade à quelqu'un (1881).^[3][7] It later took technical senses in insurance and, in geography, for a coastal region.^[3][6]

English took it in the 1650s for the front of a building, and used it figuratively by 1845.^[8]

Timeline

• 1565 – Fassade appears in the accounts of the king's buildings.^[2][3]
• 1567 – Delorme uses fassade.^[9][7]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records façade and faciate.^[2][3]
• 1650s – English borrows façade.^[8]
• 1690 – Furetière records the spelling façade.^[9][7]
• Mid-19th century – The figurative sense “deceptive appearance” appears.^[3]
• 1872 – A familiar sense “face” is recorded in Larousse.^[3][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The front of a building, where the main entrance opens, usually facing the street, and formerly any outer side of a building.^[6][2][7]
2. The front panel of a device.^[6]
3. (geography) A coastal region: la façade atlantique.^[6]
4. (figurative) An outward appearance, usually a deceptive one: ce n'est qu'une façade, amabilité de façade.^[6][3]
5. (familiar) The face: se ravaler la façade, to put on make-up again.^[6][3]

Word family

• façadier

Related words

• face
• Italian facciata

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 356b
6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert