placer

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pla.se/^[1]

Forms

placer^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French place + -er.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} “Place” itself comes from Latin platēa (“broad street”), which took the sense “public square” in late Latin, perhaps from Ancient Greek πλατεῖα (plateîa), the feminine of πλατύς (platús, “broad”).^[4] Littré noted that the verb seems to have come into use only in the early 17th century, and found the noun placement earlier in d'Aubigné.^[6] In horse racing, “se placer” “to finish in the first places” (1868) was borrowed from English place, used in this sense since 1831.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Thierry's French–Latin dictionary (1564) has se placer en un lieu convenable “to take one's place in a suitable spot”, and gives desplacer as its opposite.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century it widened: placing a ball in tennis (before 1662, Pascal), doing something at the right moment (1671, Madame de Sévigné), and un mot bien placé “a well-timed word” (1690).^[2] It was used for finding a family or a husband for someone (1582), putting a child in a boarding school (1676), finding someone a job (1690), investing money (1680) and selling goods (1755, Montesquieu).^[2]

La Bruyère (1696) wrote of being unable to placer un mot “get a word in”, and the familiar en placer une continues this.^[2][1] Placer sa voix is in Colette (1910).^[2]

Timeline

• 1564 – Se placer, Thierry.^[2]
• 1582 – To place in a family, by marriage.^[2]
• 1671 – To do at the right moment, Madame de Sévigné.^[2]
• 1680 – To invest money, Richelet.^[2]
• 1690 – To find someone a post, Furetière.^[2]
• 1755 – To sell, Montesquieu.^[2]
• 1868 – Se placer in racing, after English.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To place, put in a given spot: placer un vase sur la table; to show to a seat: placer les invités.^[7][1]
2. To situate in space or time; to put in a category.^[2][7]
3. To say or do at the right moment: placer un mot, (familiar) en placer une, to get a word in.^[2][1]
4. To find a job or position for: placer un domestique; to put (a child) in care or a school.^[2][7]
5. To invest (money): placer ses économies.^[2][7]
6. To sell, find buyers for: placer des marchandises.^[2]
7. Se placer: to take a place, (sport) to finish among the first.^[1][2]

Word family

• placement
• placeur

Related words

• remplacer
• déplacer

Usage notes

A separate masculine noun placer /plasɛʁ/ “gold-bearing deposit” (1846) came through American English from Mexican Spanish placer “sandbank; pearl-oyster bed”, borrowed from Catalan placer, a derivative of plaça “square”, so it is related to place only at a distance: les placers de Californie.^[3][8][7][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 4b
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert