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
- (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]
- A guarantee; a token or proof: un gage d'amitié.[10][9]
- In parlour games, a forfeit or penance imposed on the loser.[9][10]
- (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
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 441a
- ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)