Etymologically
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placer

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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

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