planche

Forms

planche f (plural planches)^[1] Old French plance (about 1155) and planche (about 1190), with the Picard and Norman form planke.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French planche, inherited from Late Latin planca (“board, plank”), recorded in the 4th century in Palladius.^[6][7][8] The TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg take the Late Latin word to be a syncopated form of *palanca, from Latin palanga (“wooden roller, pole”), with the change perhaps helped by plānus (“flat”);^[6][8][3] the Latin word is from Ancient Greek φάλαγξ (phálanx, “round log, phalanx”).^[3][9][1] Ernout and Meillet, as Rey reports, see instead the substantivized feminine of plancus (“flat-footed”), a popular formation like mancus (“maimed”), belonging to the root of words for what is flat; even then the word may have partly merged with the form in pal-.^[10][2]

Cognate with Old Occitan planca, Catalan planxa, Spanish plancha, Portuguese prancha and Walloon plang.^[4] The English word plank comes from the northern Old French form planke.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in Floire et Blancheflor (1150) in the sense “footbridge, small bridge made of boards”; the plain sense “flat piece of wood, longer than it is wide” follows in Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174).^[6][10]

Semantic evolution

Already in Old French the board's shape gave the sense “long narrow strip of cultivated ground in a garden” (1293).^[6][10] In the 16th century the word took the figurative sense “what makes a thing easier, an example” (1541, Calvin), from the board used as a support, reinforced later by planche pourrie “someone or something not to be relied on” and planche de salut “last resort” (1822), the plank a shipwrecked man clings to.^[6][10]

Engraving took over the word for a plate of wood, then of metal, cut for printing (1585) and, by metonymy, for a print taken from it (1575); planche à billets “note-printing press” followed in 1837.^[6][10] In the 18th century les planches became the boards of the stage, giving monter sur les planches (1761), and faire la planche “to float on one's back” is recorded in 1794.^[6][10]

Later senses include a thin person (1874), especially a flat-chested woman (1899), the blackboard in school slang (1878) and a pupil's oral test at the board (1929), skis (1933), and sports boards such as the planche à voile (1975).^[6][10]

Timeline

• 1150 – First recorded, as “footbridge”, in Floire et Blancheflor.^[6]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses it for a flat piece of wood.^[6]
• 1293 – It names a strip of garden ground.^[6][10]
• 1541 – Calvin uses it figuratively for what helps or serves as a model.^[6]
• 1575 – It names an engraved print.^[6]
• 1585 – It names an engraving plate.^[6]
• 1761 – Monter sur les planches “to go on the stage” is recorded.^[6][10]
• 1794 – Faire la planche “to float on one's back” is first recorded.^[6]
• 1822 – Michelet uses planche de salut.^[6]
• 1874 – The Grand dictionnaire universel records it for a thin person.^[6]
• 1933 – The plural is used for skis.^[6]
• 1975 – Planche à voile “windsurfing board” appears.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A board or plank: a flat piece of sawn wood, longer than it is wide and fairly thin.^[12][6][1]
2. A board used for a particular purpose: planche à découper, planche à repasser, planche à dessin.^[12][1][3]
3. (plural) The stage of a theatre: monter sur les planches.^[12][10]
4. An engraved plate used for printing, or a full-page illustration printed from one.^[12][6][1]
5. (gardening) A long narrow bed of cultivated ground.^[6][12]
6. (sport) A board for riding waves, snow or the street: planche à voile, planche à roulettes.^[1][10]
7. (familiar) A very thin person, especially a flat-chested woman.^[6][1]
8. Planche de salut: a last means of escape.^[6][1]
9. Faire la planche: to float on one's back.^[6][4]

Word family

• plancher
• planchette

Related words

• phalange
• Late Latin planca
• English plank

Usage notes

Avoir du pain sur la planche, “to have a lot of work ahead”, is recorded by Littré in 1869.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y 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
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 351a
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ 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
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert