flanc

Forms

flanc m (plural flancs)^[1] Old French flanche (late 11th century), the older form;^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also flanke and flaunc.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *hlanka (“side of the body”).^[2][3][5][6] That word gave flanche directly; the modern form was probably remade on it, the form in -a being taken for a collective plural like brasse beside bras, so that a new masculine singular was formed.^[2][3][5][7] The Frankish word is matched by Old High German lancha (“side, hip”) and Middle Dutch lanke (“side, hip”).^[2][3] The Petit Robert traces it to a Germanic root meaning “to bend”, also behind German Gelenk (“joint”) and German lenken (“to steer”);^[8][9] Etymonline gives Proto-Germanic *hlanca- and notes the regular change of Germanic /hl/ to Romance /fl/.^[8][9] Wiktionary gives the Frankish form as *hlanku.^[1] Littré reports Diez's doubts about a Germanic origin and his preference for Latin flaccus (“soft, weak”).^[10]

Italian fianco, Spanish flanco, German Flanke and Dutch flank were taken from French.^[5][8] English flank comes from the Old French word.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it means the side of the body of a man or animal: Greles ès flancs e larges les costez.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

By the end of the 12th century it was also the part of the body where life seems to lie, the vital organs being at the sides, and the flancs of a woman meant her womb (1273).^[2][3] By analogy it named the side of a thing, as al flan d’une montegne in the late 13th century.^[2][3] Amyot used it in 1559 for the right or left side of a body of troops, whence prêter le flanc à (1740), literally and figuratively.^[2][3]

Familiar phrases include flanc à flanc (1558), se battre les flancs (1764), être sur le flanc “exhausted” (1865) and tirer au flanc “to shirk” (1881).^[3][7] Derivatives include flanchet (1376), formed on the old flanche, flanquer “to protect on the flanks” (1555) and efflanquer (1611).^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – In the Chanson de Roland, the side of the body.^[2][11]
• late 12th century – The seat of life, in Clemence of Barking.^[2][3]
• 1273 – Adenet le Roi uses flancs for the womb.^[3][7]
• late 13th century – The side of a mountain.^[2][3]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for the side of a body of troops.^[2][3]
• 1740 – Prêter le flanc à appears.^[3]
• 1865 – Être sur le flanc “exhausted”.^[3][7]
• 1881 – Tirer au flanc is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The side of the body of a person or animal, below the ribs; the side in general: dormir sur le flanc.^[8][2][1]
2. Être sur le flanc: to be laid up, and by extension utterly exhausted;^[8][10] mettre sur le flanc, to wear out.^[8][10]
3. Tirer au flanc (familiar): to shirk a chore.^[8][1]
4. (literary) The womb: les flancs de la femme.^[3][7]
5. The side of a thing; the slope of a mountain: à flanc de colline.^[2][1]
6. (military) The flank of an army or body of troops;^[2][3][1] prêter le flanc à, to lay oneself open to.^[2][3][1]
7. (heraldry) A flaunch.^[1]

Word family

• flanchet
• efflanquer
• bat-flanc
• tire-au-flanc
• flanc-garde

Related words

• flanquer

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 n o p q 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 p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 211a
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 c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert