pause

Forms

pause f (plural pauses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pausa (“cessation, stop, pause, truce”), first as a term of music in 1393.^[2][3][1] The Latin noun is usually taken from a Greek noun of the same meaning, but Rey notes that the Greek word is rare and late and that the change of declension is unexplained; he suggests that the Latin noun may have been formed from pausō, itself built on the aorist of Ancient Greek παύω (paúō, “to make cease, stop”).^[3][4]

The phrase grant pause (“a long while”) in Froissart (1372–1373) contains Old French pose respelled after the Latin word.^[2][5] Wiktionary likewise holds that the Middle French form may be partly a relatinized spelling of the Old French word (the source of Dutch poos), so that the two cannot be wholly separated.^[1]

Bloch and Wartburg derive the musical sense from Italian pausa;^[5] the TLFi and Rey reject this, since the Italian word has that sense only from 1558.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1393 in Eustache Deschamps' L'Art de dictier, as a term of music meaning a silence.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By extension the word came to mean a short halt in a speech (1478–1480, Coquillart) and then in any activity.^[2][3] The musical sense was narrowed to a written sign on the staff and to a silence lasting one bar, both recorded by Richelet in 1680.^[6] The sense “half-time” in sport is recorded by Larousse in 1932.^[6]

In modern French it forms many feminine compounds for a break in work: pause-café (1966) and, after it, pause-pipi (1970), pause-repas (1971) and pause-thé (1986).^[3] In Belgium it also names a shift of eight hours of continuous work.^[3]

Timeline

• 1393 – Eustache Deschamps uses pause as a term of music.^[2]
• 1478–1480 – Coquillart uses it for a pause in speech.^[2][3]
• 1636 – The verb pauser is recorded.^[3]
• 1680 – Richelet defines the musical sign and the silence of one bar.^[6]
• 1932 – Larousse records the sense in sport.^[6]
• 1966 – Pause-café appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A short break or interruption in an activity or in work: faire une pause, la pause de midi.^[7][8][9]
2. (familiar) Pause-café, pause pipi: a break for coffee, a break to go to the toilet.^[7][8]
3. (sports) Half-time.^[7]
4. A pause in speech: l'oratrice marqua une pause.^[8][9]
5. (music) A rest lasting one bar, and the sign for it.^[4][1]

Word family

• demi-pause
• pauser

Related words

• pose
• poser
• reposer¹
• ménopause
• Latin pausa

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)