lac

Forms

lac m (plural lacs)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin lacus (“tub, reservoir, pond”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Its first French sense, “pit”, comes either from Christian Latin, where the word also meant “pit”, or from the spread of the Occitan form northwards.^[2][5] It replaced the popular, inherited Old French lai “pit” and “pond”, which had little vitality.^[2][3][4]

Rey notes that the Latin word has correspondents across the Indo-European languages, from Celtic to Slavic, and in Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “hole, reservoir, cistern”).^[3] Cognate with Occitan lac, Italian lago and Spanish lago.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the first half of the 12th century, in the Cambridge Psalter, meaning a pit; the sense “lake” is found in Chrétien de Troyes's Erec (1165–1170).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “pit” lasted into the 14th century, in Guillaume de Machaut.^[2] In the 19th century the word took on figurative slang uses: aller dans le lac “to go to prison” (1886), tomber dans le lac “to be in poverty” (about 1880) and être dans le lac “to be in trouble” (Courteline, 1888).^[2] These may have been influenced by tomber dans le lacs “to fall into the snare”, with lacs “noose, trap” from Latin laqueus (Féraud has the plural in 1787), and they suggest drowning and loss, like tomber dans l'eau (Flaubert, 1853).^[2][3] Today tomber dans le lac is said of a plan that fails.^[8]

By analogy lac de sang names a pool of spilled liquid (Baudelaire, 1857), and in anatomy lacs sanguins are blood-filled spaces (1902).^[2][9] Artificial lakes, such as reservoirs behind dams, are recorded by the Robert in 1959.^[9]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – Lac “pit” in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2]
• 1165–1170 – “Lake” in Chrétien's Erec.^[2]
• c. 1200–1266 – The inherited form lai “pit, pond” is still found.^[2]
• 1857 – Baudelaire writes of un lac de sang.^[2][9]
• c. 1880 – Tomber dans le lac “to be destitute”.^[2][3]
• 1886 – Aller dans le lac “to go to prison”.^[2]
• 1888 – Être dans le lac “to be in trouble”, in Courteline.^[2]
• 1959 – Lac de barrage in the Robert.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lake, a large natural body of fresh or, more rarely, salt water inland: le lac Léman, les Grands Lacs.^[8][2]
2. An artificial lake, for pleasure or as a reservoir: un lac de barrage.^[8][9]
3. (literary) A large quantity of spilled liquid: un lac de sang.^[8][2]
4. (anatomy) A closed space between tissues holding blood or lymph: lacs sanguins.^[2][9]
5. (familiar) Tomber dans le lac, être dans le lac: to fail, to come to nothing (of a plan): notre voyage est tombé dans le lac.^[8][2]

Word family

• lacustre

Related words

• lacune
• lagune
• lagon
• Latin lacus

Usage notes

Littré notes that the ⟨s⟩ of the plural is not usually sounded in liaison.^[7] The Grand Robert also has a separate lac, more often lack or lakh (1770, lekke 1678), “a hundred thousand” (un lack de roupies), from Hindi lākh or Persian lāk, from Sanskrit lākshā;^[5] and Anglo-Norman had a lac for the resin lac (1216–1220).^[10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 126a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)