lacer

Forms

lacer^[1] Old French lacier (from about 1080); lacer from the 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lacier, inherited from Latin laqueō (“to bind, ensnare”), from laqueus (“noose, snare, cord”).^{[5][2][6][3][7]} In modern use the verb is closely tied to lacet, a derivative of the noun lacs.^[2][8]

Cognate with Italian lacciare and Old Occitan lassar.^[6][9] The English verb lace (about 1200) is from the Old French verb.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) knights lace their helmets, lacet son helme, and helmes laciez are laced helmets.^[5][8]

Semantic evolution

Old French also used it for joining hands (Wace, 1155) and for making a net from cords (Marie de France, about 1180), and in figurative senses that did not survive: to bind by a sentence, to hold someone in one's power (1226) and, as a reflexive, to commit oneself (14th century).^[5][2] The idea of clasping lingers only in the rare technical sense “to cover the female”, said of a dog (Palsgrave, 1530).^[2][5]

Soi lacier, of a woman, is found from 1176–84, and se lacer later meant to lace one's corset (1573).^[5][2] At sea (1687) it meant to join a sail to another or to the yard with a line, a use now gone.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Laced helmets in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• 1155 – Wace uses lacier les mains “to join the hands”.^[5]
• c. 1180 – Marie de France uses it for making a net.^[5]
• 1260 – The derivative laceur “maker of netting” is recorded.^[5]
• 1530 – Palsgrave records the sense said of a dog covering a bitch.^[5][2]
• 1687 – The nautical sense appears.^[5][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To lace, tie the two parts of something (a shoe, a garment) with a lacet passed alternately through each side: lacer ses bottes.^[11][5]
2. (dated) Lacer une femme: to lace up a woman's corset;^[4][8] se lacer, to lace one's corset.^[4][8]
3. (nautical) To attach a sail to another or to the yard with a line.^[8][4]
4. To make the meshes of a filet, to net.^[11][8]

Word family

• lacis
• délacer
• enlacer
• entrelacer
• laceur
• lacerie

Related words

• lacs
• lacet
• Latin laqueus
• English lace

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e 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 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 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. 5, 177b
8. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert