halte

Forms

halte f (plural haltes)^[1] First as halt in faire halt (1566); the variant alte was used from the 16th to the 18th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Halt (“stop, halt”), a military term, the noun use of the imperative of halten (“to stop, hold”).^[3][5][1] The variant alte comes from Italian alto (“halt of an army on the march”), found from the late 15th or early 16th century in fare alto (“to halt”) and itself taken from German.^[3][5] The TLFi takes the French word from the Italian one, with the ⟨h⟩ from the German word.^[2]

Rey connects the German word with Frankish *halt, which had already given Old Picard halt (“place where one stays”) in the 12th century; the GLLF also starts from it.^[3][6] Littré quotes this Picard form from the romance Partonopeus de Blois.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in Du Pinet's 1566 translation of Pliny, is faire halt “to stop and rest”, of soldiers or hunters.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From faire halte the word passed into military commands (1636, Monet, as alte) and then, in Molière, became a general interjection telling someone to stop (alte un peu, 1655, alte-là, 1669, Tartuffe).^[2][3] By metonymy halte named the place where one stops (1794), and in railway language a minor stopping point distinct from a station (1866).^[2][3] Figuratively it is a pause in an activity (1830, Lamartine) and, in Balzac (1843), a respite in an illness.^[3][2] Halte au feu !, a military order, has been used since the 1990s to call for an end to violence.^[3] English took halt “a stop” in the 1590s from the French word or from Italian alto.^[8]

Timeline

• 1566 – Faire halt in Du Pinet's translation of Pliny.^[2]
• 1590s – English borrows halt.^[8]
• 1636 – Alte as a military command, in Monet.^[2]
• 1655 – Molière's L'Étourdi has alte un peu.^[2]
• 1669 – Alte-là in Tartuffe.^[2]
• 1794 – The place where a halt is made.^[2]
• 1830 – Lamartine uses it for a pause.^[2]
• 1866 – A railway stopping point.^[2]
• 1933 – Halte-garderie is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stop for rest during a march or a journey: faire halte, une courte halte.^[9][2]
2. Halte horaire: in the army, a ten-minute stop after fifty minutes of marching.^[9]
3. The place where a stop is made, a staging post.^[9]
4. (railways) A minor stop on a line, a request stop where trains pick up passengers without a fixed stopping time.^[9][1]
5. (figurative) A pause, a momentary break in an action or a development.^[9][2]

Interjection

1. Halt!, a military order to stop marching; also figuratively, to call for something to end: halte au gaspillage !^[9]
2. Halte-là !: a sentry's challenge to stop; figuratively, “that's enough!”^[9]

Word family

• halte-garderie

Related words

• German Halt

Usage notes

The ⟨h⟩ is aspirated, so there is no elision or liaison: la halte, les haltes.^[9][4]

References

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