lance

Forms

lance f (plural lances)^[1] Anglo-Norman launce, lanse, lanz.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lance, inherited from Latin lancea (“lance, pike”).^[3][1][4] Ancient authors already took the Latin word for a foreign one: Varro called it Spanish, while Festus connected it with Ancient Greek λόγχη (lónkhē, “spearhead”).^[5][6] Rey suggests that the Greek and Latin words may be separate borrowings from one third language, perhaps Celtic, since the Romans associated the weapon with the Gauls and Galatians;^[5] Bloch and Wartburg call it a throwing weapon of Spanish origin, perhaps Gaulish, and the Grand Robert calls it probably Celtic.^[7][8]

Cognate with Italian lancia, Spanish lanza, Portuguese lança, Catalan llança, Occitan lança and Romanian lance.^[9][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), for a long-shafted weapon: Tans cops [il] a pris de lances et d'espiez “he has taken so many blows from lances and spears”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Old French lance named both a fairly light spear, later replaced by the pike, and the heavy lance of armoured horsemen, used in battle until the 15th century and in tournaments until the 17th.^[5] By metonymy it meant a soldier armed with a lance (1288 in the TLFi; from the 12th century according to Rey), and in the 15th century a small military unit formed around such a man.^[3][5]

Once the weapon was abandoned the word became historical or exotic, and survived in figurative phrases inspired by the tournament: baisser la lance devant quelqu'un “to give way to someone” (1690) and rompre une lance pour quelqu'un “to argue on someone's behalf” (1718).^[5] Fer de lance, first the iron head of the weapon (1367), became an ornament (1867) and, in the 20th century, an elite force.^[3][5] The cavalry lance returned with the uhlans in the mid-18th century and the lancers of the Empire.^[5]

From its long shape the word was given to tools: the modeller's spatula for stucco and plaster (1676 in the TLFi, 1680 in the DHLF) and the nozzle of a hose, lance d'eau (1694), later lance à eau and lance à incendie (1867), which Rey sees as more a noun from lancer than an image of the weapon.^[3][5] English lance was borrowed from Old French in the late 13th century.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Lance appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• 1288 – Used for a soldier armed with a lance.^[3]
• late 13th century – English borrows the word as launce.^[10]
• 1367 – Fer de lance “lance head” is recorded.^[3]
• late 15th century – Commynes uses courir la lance “to tilt”.^[11]
• 1676 – Félibien uses it for a stucco worker's spatula.^[3]
• 1690 – Baisser la lance is used figuratively.^[5][11]
• 1694 – Lance d'eau “water nozzle” is recorded.^[5]
• 1718 – The Académie records rompre une lance.^[11][5]
• 1867 – Lance à incendie “fire hose nozzle” is recorded.^[3]
• 20th century – Fer de lance comes to mean an elite force.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lance or spear, a weapon with a long shaft and a pointed iron head.^[9][12][13]
2. (historical) A soldier armed with a lance, a lancer.^[12][1]
3. The nozzle of a hose: lance à incendie (a fire hose nozzle).^[3][1]
4. Rompre une lance avec or contre quelqu'un: to argue against someone.^[9][13]
5. Fer de lance: the head of a lance, an ornament of that shape, and figuratively the spearhead of a movement or force.^[9][5]
6. (technical) A modeller's spatula for stucco, plaster or wax.^[5][3]
7. (jewellery) The folded spring tongue of a bracelet or necklace clasp.^[12]

Word family

• lancette
• lancier
• lançon
• lanceron

Related words

• lancer
• lancéolé
• Latin lancea

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a separate slang word lance “water, rain” (1562), perhaps from the Italian argot word lenza or slenza “water, urine”; it lives on in chaude-lance, a name for gonorrhoea.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 151b
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)