glacer

Forms

glacer^[1] Old French glacier; the form glacer dates from the end of the 15th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French glacier, inherited from Late Latin glaciō (“to turn into ice, to freeze with fear, to harden”).^[5][6][7][3] The Latin verb is derived from glacia, the late form of glaciēs (“ice”), the source of glace.^[6][3][2]

Cognate with Italian ghiacciare and Occitan glassar.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it about 1165 of blood that congeals, and about 1175 of water turning to ice.^[5] He also uses it figuratively in la rien qui plus el quor me glace “the thing that most chills my heart”.^[5][8] In the same period the verb often meant “to slip, to make slip”.^[6][7][2]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages glacier often meant “to slide, to slip”, a sense the derivative glacis keeps.^[7][6] The sense “to turn into ice” (about 1175) gave figurative uses: to strike with a violent emotion (glacer les veines, 1673, later glacer le sang), to cool the warmth of youth (1611), and in the classical period to bore.^[6][3] Concretely it came to mean “to make very cold” (about 1740) and “to chill with ice” (1845).^[6]

From 1549 it also meant “to give a smooth, shiny surface like ice”, whence technical uses in cooking (1680), in finishing fabrics (taffetas glacé, 1680) and in paper and photography.^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it of congealing blood.^[5]
• c. 1175 – It is used of water turning to ice.^[5]
• End of the 15th century – The form glacer replaces glacier.^[2][3]
• 1549 – It means “to give a polished look”.^[5][6]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it for fabric dressing.^[3][6]
• 1680 – Richelet records taffetas glacé and the pastry sense.^[5]
• 1718 – Glacer le sang appears in Massillon.^[3]
• 1845 – It means “to chill with ice”.^[6][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (rare) To freeze, turn a liquid into ice, also to harden by intense cold.^[4][9][10]
2. To make very cold, to chill a drink with ice: Il faut glacer le vin blanc.^[4]
3. To pierce with cold: Ce vent du nord me glace.^[9][4]
4. (figurative) To dishearten by coldness of manner, or to paralyse with a violent emotion: glacer le sang.^[9][4][1]
5. To give a smooth, shiny glaze to, especially (cooking) to ice a cake or glaze a dish.^[9][1][5]

Word family

• glaçage
• glacé
• glacis
• glaçant

Related words

• glace
• glacial
• Latin glaciēs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)