Etymologically
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pièce

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /pjɛs/[1]

Forms

pièce f (plural pièces)[1] Old French pece (late 10th century), piece, Picard pieche.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French piece, inherited from Medieval Latin petia (“piece of land; small piece of beaten gold”), recorded from about 730; this is from Gaulish *pettia, restored after Welsh peth (“thing”) and Breton pez (“piece”).[2][4][5][6][1] Diez objected that Celtic “th” does not regularly give “s” in Romance; other proposals, a Greek word for “foot” or a Latin “*petium”, have not been accepted.[7]

Cognate with Italian pezza, Occitan peça, Spanish pieza and Portuguese peça.[8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pece is found at the end of the 10th century in the Passion of Clermont with an obscure sense, perhaps “some time”; in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it means a part of something torn or broken.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The time sense, une pièce “a while” (about 1140) and grant piece “a long time”, died out in the 16th or early 17th century, surviving only in the archaic piéça.[3][2] In the sense “fragment” the word gave way to morceau from the 14th century, except in phrases such as mettre en pièces (1460–1466) and tailler en pièces (1579).[2][3]

As a separate unit of a whole it spread into many fields: a patch of cloth (about 1265), a plot of land (1176–1184), a cask of wine (1260), a coin (about 1285, rendre la monnaie de sa pièce, 1787), a gun (about 1500), a document (pièces justificatives, 1535), a chessman (1559), a literary work (1580) and a play (1631).[3][2][9] Pièce “room” of a dwelling is recorded in 1694.[3] Travailler aux pièces “to do piecework” dates from 1840–1845, and pièce montée from 1807.[3]

Timeline

  • Late 10th century – Pece in the Passion of Clermont.[3]
  • c. 1100 – A fragment, in the Chanson de Roland.[3]
  • 1176–1184 – Piece de tiere “plot of land”.[3]
  • c. 1285 – Pièce d'argent “coin”, in Rutebeuf.[3]
  • c. 1500 – A piece of artillery, in Commynes.[3]
  • 1580 – A literary work, in Montaigne.[3]
  • 1631 – A play, in Guez de Balzac.[3][9]
  • 1694 – A room of a dwelling.[3]
  • 1807 – Pièce montée.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A room in a house or flat: un appartement de trois pièces.[1][3]
  2. A piece, part, component: pièces détachées, en pièces: in pieces.[8][1]
  3. An item, unit: vendu à la pièce, travailler aux pièces.[8]
  4. A coin (pièce de monnaie).[1]
  5. A patch of cloth.[1][3]
  6. A play (pièce de théâtre); a piece of music.[1][3]
  7. A document: pièce d'identité, pièce jointe.[1]
  8. A plot of land; a cask of wine; a gun (pièce d'artillerie); a chessman.[3]
  9. (heraldry) An ordinary.[1]
  10. (Canada, informal) A dollar.[1]

Word family

  • piécette
  • dépecer
  • rapiécer
  • dépiécer
  • empiècement
  • emporte-pièce
  • piéça

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 332b
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF