navire

Forms

navire m (plural navires)^[1] Old French navilie and navirie (both about 1100, Chanson de Roland).^[2][3] The gender was unsettled until the 17th century, the masculine prevailing in the 16th.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French navirie (“ship”) in a shortened form; the Old French word is an alteration of navilie (“fleet”),^[2][3][5] borrowed from Vulgar Latin *navilium, an altered form of Latin nāvigium (“vessel; fleet; voyage”), from nāvigō (“to sail”).^[2][3][6] Bloch and Wartburg explain the new ending by the model of Latin nouns such as concilium.^[4] Wiktionary and Littré treat the word as inherited rather than borrowed.^[1][7]

The Latin noun also gave Old French navoi and navie, with the same senses.^[2][4] The Old Occitan form navili (“fleet, ship”) is the source of Italian naviglio, while Spanish navío and Portuguese navio continue the Latin word directly.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In about 1140 Geoffroy Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis uses it for a fleet; the sense “ship” is found about 1160 in the Roman d'Eneas.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Like the Latin word, the Old French noun hovered between “fleet” and “single ship”; the collective sense declined before the 17th century.^[3][2] Some scholars linked the feminine la navire to the sense “fleet”.^[3] As “ship” it gradually replaced nef.^[3]

Navire de guerre and navire marchand are recorded by Furetière in 1690.^[2] In modern French navire is reserved for a seagoing ship of some tonnage and competes with bateau; it forms compounds such as navire-hôpital (1868) and navire-usine (1932).^[3][9]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Navilie “fleet” and navirie “ship” in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1140 – Navire “fleet”, in Geoffroy Gaimar.^[2]
• c. 1160 – Navire “ship”, in the Roman d'Eneas.^[2]
• 16th century – The masculine gender becomes the usual one.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records navire de guerre and navire marchand.^[2]
• 1868 – Navire-hôpital.^[3]
• 1932 – Navire-usine.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ship, a large decked vessel for sea transport: navire de guerre, a warship, navire marchand, a merchant ship.^[9][2]
2. (astronomy, dated) Le Navire: the constellation Argo Navis.^[7]

Word family

• navire-hôpital
• navire-usine
• navire-citerne

Related words

• naviguer
• nef
• naval
• Latin nāvigium

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique 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. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 65b
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert