glisser

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡli.se/^[1]

Forms

glisser^[1] Old French glicier (before 1191), remade as glisser about 1380.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French glicier, a blend of Old French gliier (“to slide”), borrowed from Frankish *glīdan (“to slide, glide”), with glacier, the old form of glacer, which in the 12th century meant “to slip”.^{[5][2][6][3][7]} The Frankish verb is related to Middle Dutch gliden, Middle High German glīten and German gleiten, and goes back to Proto-Germanic *glīdaną, the source of English glide.^[5][1]

Littré took “glacier”, from glace, to be the older word.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Gui de Cambrai's Vengement Alixandre (before 1191) glicier means to move continuously over a smooth surface or along another body.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

Glisser sur la glace is in Palsgrave (1530).^[5] Transitively it meant to push (about 1320), then to slip something in deftly or secretly (Monet, 1636) and to whisper a word (1735).^[5][2] From the 16th century it meant to move as if gliding (glisser sur l'eau), to pass lightly or insensibly (1580), and to slip gradually into a state.^[2][4]

Figuratively, glisser sur a subject is not to dwell on it (Madame de Sévigné, 1671), and something glisse sur a person when it makes no impression (1680).^[5][2] Skiers use it from 1896, and the noun glisse gave the sports de glisse.^[9][2]

Timeline

• Before 1191 – Glicier, Gui de Cambrai.^[5]
• c. 1320 – Transitive “to push”, Watriquet de Couvin.^[5]
• c. 1380 – The form glisser.^[2][3]
• 1530 – Glisser sur la glace, Palsgrave.^[5]
• 1636 – To slip in furtively, Monet.^[5]
• 1671 – “Not to dwell on”, Madame de Sévigné.^[5]
• 1896 – Of skiing.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To slide, glide: glisser sur la glace, le traîneau glissait sur la neige.^[1][5]
2. To slip, skid: il a glissé sur une peau de banane; to be slippery: attention, ça glisse.^[10][1]
3. To pass lightly or gradually: glisser dans le sommeil, glisser sur un sujet, not to dwell on it.^[2][5]
4. To slip (something) in, insert discreetly: glisser une lettre sous la porte; to whisper: glisser un mot à l'oreille.^[5][2]
5. Se glisser: to slip, creep in: se glisser dans la foule.^[8][5]

Word family

• glissade
• glissant
• glissement
• glisseur
• glissière
• glissoire
• glisse

Related words

• glacer
• glace
• English glide

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 44b
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert