galée

Forms

galée f (plural galées)^[1] Old French galee and galie, both found in the Chanson de Roland.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also wrote galaie, galeie and gualee.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French galee, borrowed from Medieval Latin galea (recorded in 877), which is from Byzantine Greek γάλεα (gálea), attested from the early 10th century.^[5][1][6][7] The Byzantine word is probably a variant of Ancient Greek γαλεός (galeós, “shark”), the boat being named for its speed.^[5][6] Others, as the FEW and Vidos, the Grand Robert and the GLLF, start instead from γαλέη (galéē, “weasel”), either through the sense “burbot” or because the boat's shape was likened to the animal;^[5][8][9] Ménage had already thought of the weasel's speed, and Du Cange of Latin galea (“helmet”).^[3]

The same Latin word gave galère through Catalan galera, which replaced the older word from 1402.^[2][6] The printing sense is an image of the ship.^[5][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) galies are war galleys, listed beside skiffs, barges and ships.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the word named a ship driven by oars, used in war, trade and the carrying of pilgrims.^[10] From the 15th century it gave way to galère, borrowed from Catalan, and galée became a historical word.^[2][6] Rabelais still wrote Et vogue la galée, puisque la panse est pleine “sail on, the galley, now the belly is full”.^[3]

In 1523 an inventory of a printer's widow lists galées, the trays on which compositors set the lines of type: the word was taken up again for this tray because of its resemblance to the boat.^[5][6] English took this sense from French in the 1650s as galley.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland has galies among the ships of the Saracens.^[5][3]
• 13th century – Villehardouin promises fifty armed galies as escort.^[3]
• 1402 – Galère is borrowed from Catalan and gradually replaces galée.^[2][6]
• 1523 – First recorded as a printing tray, in a Paris inventory.^[5][6]
• 16th century – Rabelais writes Et vogue la galée.^[3]
• 1650s – English galley takes the printing sense from French galée.^[11]
• 1680 – Richelet records the printing sense.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) A galley, a small oared warship.^[5][9]
2. (printing) A galley: a rectangular tray with a rim on three sides, on which the compositor places the lines of type set in the composing stick: composer en galée.^[5][9]

Related words

• galère
• galion
• Latin galea
• English galley

Usage notes

Littré gives the printing word a headword of its own, but explains it, like the TLFi and the DHLF, as named after the ship.^[3][5][6] The DMF records rarer Middle French homographs: galée “merry company” (about 1460) and galée for a side table at which officers were served (about 1500).^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 27a
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com