piège

Forms

piège m (plural pièges)^[1] Old French piege, without an accent; the spelling piége (still in Littré) was replaced by piège in 1878.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French piege, inherited from Latin pedica (“fetter for the feet, snare”), derived from pēs (“foot”).^[4][2][5][3] Wiktionary gives an intermediate Vulgar Latin *pedicus.^[1] The Latin word meant a tie for the feet, then a snare or trap, and figuratively bonds and chains.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174) for a device for catching animals; the DHLF and the Robert date it to about 1155.^[4][2][3]

Semantic evolution

The device for catching animals was soon applied by analogy to people.^[2] The figurative sense, a trick to deceive someone, is recorded in 1579 in Larivey, and gave the phrases tomber dans le piège (1653, Vaugelas) and donner dans le piège (1677, Quinault).^[4][2]

Constructions with à and a noun name what is caught: the familiar piège à cons (mid-20th century) is a situation in which the gullible are taken, as in the slogan élections, piège à cons, and piège à filles spread with a song of 1966.^[2] In physics piège à ions and piège à bulles are devices that collect something from a flow.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1160–1174 – Wace's Roman de Rou has the first record.^[4]
• 1579 – Larivey uses it for a trick or ruse.^[4]
• 1653 – Tomber dans le piége appears in Vaugelas.^[4]
• 1677 – Donner dans le piége appears in Quinault.^[4]
• 1875 – The verb piéger is attested in hunting.^[5][2]
• 1878 – The spelling with a grave accent, piège, is adopted.^[2]
• Mid-20th century – Piège à cons appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A trap or snare for catching or luring animals: tendre un piège, prendre au piège.^[7][6]
2. (technology) A device that captures particles in a flow: piège à ions.^[6]
3. (figurative) A trick to put someone in a bad position, a hidden danger or pitfall: tomber dans le piège.^[7][6][1]
4. (familiar) Piège à cons: a trap for the gullible.^[7][2]

Word family

• piéger
• piégeage
• piégeur

Related words

• pied
• Latin pedica

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)