lancier

Forms

lancier m (plural lanciers)^[1]

Etymology

The TLFi, the Petit Robert and Bloch and Wartburg take it as formed in French, from French lance + -ier, beside the Late Latin lanceārius of the same sense.^[2][3][4] The DHLF and the Grand Robert treat it as taken from that Late Latin word,^[5][6] and Wiktionary as inherited from it.^[1] The noun is from Latin lancea, first a throwing weapon of Spanish, perhaps Gaulish, origin according to Varro.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1215 in Aymeri de Narbonne, meaning one who bears a lance.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

The word went out of use and came back chiefly for a corps of cavalry created in 1801, then for lancers of other armies, notably the British, by adaptation of English lancer (les lanciers du Bengale).^[5][3]

The quadrille des lanciers, or les lanciers, is a five-figure dance brought in from England: the DHLF dates it to 1855, Littré to about 1854 and the Petit Robert to 1856.^[5][7][3] Littré also records lancier as a plumbers' term for a kind of gutter.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1215 – Lancier “lance-bearer” in Aymeri de Narbonne.^[2]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses the word.^[4]
• 1801 – A corps of lancers is created.^[5]
• 1855 – First record of the quadrille des lanciers.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A lancer, a cavalier armed with a lance: un régiment de lanciers.^[2][3]
2. (dated) Le quadrille des lanciers, les lanciers: a quadrille in five figures, imported from England.^[3][8][7]

Related words

• lance
• lancer

References

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