gage

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡaʒ/^[1]

Forms

gage m (plural gages)^[1] Old French wage, gwage, guage.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French gage, from Early Medieval Latin wadium (“pledge”) (about 643, also in the Reichenau Glosses), from Frankish *waddi (“pledge”),^[3][1][5] a term of Germanic law.^[6][7] Cognate with Middle Dutch wedde, Old High German wetti (“pledge, fine”), Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌳𐌹 (wadi, “pledge”) and German Wette (“bet”).^[3][6][1] Wiktionary takes the Frankish word from Proto-Germanic *wadją (“pledge”).^[1]

The TLFi does not rule out that Latin vas (“surety, bail”) played a part,^[3] and Littré thought both the Latin and the Germanic word had contributed.^[2] P. Guiraud took “gage” instead as a back-formation from gager, from the Germanic word crossed with a Vulgar Latin *vadiare;^[4][7] Rey thinks the two origins may have crossed.^[4] Italian gaggio, Spanish gage and Portuguese gage come from French.^[6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Lois de Guillaume (about 1130) have gwage, something deposited as security for a debt or for doing something.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

About 1135 mettre guage meant “to stake, put at risk”, and about 1165 guage was compensation for a wrong.^[3] The plural gages meant pay or salary from about 1160–1174 (Wace),^[3] especially a servant's wages, hence être aux gages de qqn and à gages “hired” (1713), surviving in tueur à gages “hired killer”.^[4] Gage de bataille, a glove thrown down as pledge of combat, is in Beaumanoir.^[2][8] Figuratively a gage is a token or proof (early 15th century, Charles d'Orléans).^[4][8] In parlour games it is a forfeit (1538), now the penance imposed on the loser.^[3][9]

Bloch and Wartburg note that in law gage has given way to caution and garantie.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1130 – Gwage “security” in the Lois de Guillaume.^[3]
• c. 1135 – Mettre guage “to stake”.^[3]
• c. 1165 – “Compensation” in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[3]
• 1160–1174 – Gages “pay” in Wace.^[3]
• c. 1283 – Gage de bataille in Beaumanoir.^[8]
• 1538 – A forfeit in games, in Estienne.^[3]
• 1694 – A stake deposited in a dispute, in the Académie.^[3]
• 1713 – À gages “hired”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (law) A pledge: a movable good handed to a creditor as security for a debt; the contract by which it is given: prêteur sur gages.^[9][10]
2. A guarantee; a token or proof: un gage d'amitié.^[10][9]
3. In parlour games, a forfeit or penance imposed on the loser.^[9][10]
4. (in the plural, dated) Wages, a servant's pay, à gages: hired: tueur à gages.^[4][1]

Word family

• gager
• gageure
• gagiste
• dégager
• désengager

Related words

• English gage
• English wage
• English wed

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 441a
6. ^ a b c d 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 c 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. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)