ouvrage

Forms

ouvrage m (plural ouvrages)^[1] Old French ovrage, ovraige.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French œuvre + -age, from an old form of that noun such as uevre or oevre.^[2][3][4][5] That noun is from Latin opera.^[5] It replaced the Old French ouvraigne “work, thing made”, recorded as ouvrainne in 1155 and in its later form in 1160, whose ending was less common.^[2][3][5]

Littré and Wiktionary instead trace it to a Vulgar Latin *operāticum, formed from operor (“to work”), on the evidence of Occitan obratge and Italian operaggio.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the first quarter of the 13th century in the Miserere of the Reclus de Molliens, is ouvrages de car, “works of the flesh”, the sexual act.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The sense “sexual act” lasted through Old and Middle French, ouvrage alone having it in 1456–1467; modern French keeps œuvre de chair instead.^[3][2] The common sense “action of working, work” is found from the second third of the 13th century,^[2][3] with du cœur à l'ouvrage (1851) and ouvrage de patience (1798), earlier a name of the philosopher's stone.^[2][3]

It was used of paid work by which one earns a living from 1464,^[2][3] of the way a thing is made from about 1450,^[2][3] and of what work produces from 1409.^[2] Architecture used it for sculpted ornament (about 1280) and for buildings, as in ouvrage d'art (1823),^[2] and fortification for a defensive work (1676).^[2] From 1478 it meant a work of the mind, a written work.^[2] Needlework gave sac à ouvrage (1740) and boîte à ouvrage (1823).^[2]

Timeline

• 1200–1225 – Ouvrages de car appears in the Reclus de Molliens.^[2][3]
• 1226 – Bloch and Wartburg's date for ouvrage.^[5]
• c. 1280 – Adenet le Roi uses it for sculpted ornament.^[2]
• 1409 – It names the product of work.^[2]
• 1464 – It means paid work in a letter of Louis XI.^[2][3]
• 1478 – It means a literary work.^[2]
• 1676 – It is used of a fortification.^[2]
• 1823 – Ouvrage d'art is recorded.^[2]
• 1830 – The feminine de la belle ouvrage is recorded.^[2]
• 1851 – Lamartine uses du cœur à l'ouvrage.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Work, the action of working, a task: se mettre à l'ouvrage.^[8][6]
2. Avoir du cœur à l'ouvrage: to work with enthusiasm.^[8][6]
3. Paid work, employment.^[8][3]
4. A thing made by a worker, craftsman or artist: un ouvrage de menuiserie.^[8]
5. (construction) A building or structure;^[8][2] ouvrage d'art, a bridge, tunnel or the like built for a road or railway.^[8][2]
6. (military) A fortification.^[8][2]
7. A piece of needlework, knitting or embroidery: une corbeille à ouvrage.^[8]
8. A written work, a book.^[8][1]

Word family

• ouvragé

Related words

• œuvre
• ouvrer
• œuvrer
• ouvrier
• ouvrière
• Latin opera

Usage notes

In popular French the word is feminine in c'est de la belle ouvrage, “that is fine work”, recorded from 1830.^[2][8][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 t u v w x y z 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF