ponter

ponter¹ to bridge; to deck a boat

Etymology tree of ponter¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin pōns

Catalan pont

French pont

French ponter

Italian ponte

Romanian punte

Spanish puente

From the same root · ponter¹

Latin pontifex ← pōns

Latin pontō ← pōns

Pronunciation

• /pɔ̃.te/^[1]

Forms

ponter^[1]

Etymology

The verb for bridging and decking is formed from French pont + -er.^[2][3][1] Its first record is the Anglo-Norman pounter “to throw a bridge over a river”, in a letter of 1272–74, an isolated record before the 16th century.^[2][4][5] The noun goes back to Latin pōns (“bridge”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a letter of 1272–74 the Anglo-Norman form pounter means to bridge a river.^[2][4] Jean d’Auton, about 1500, uses it the same way of a wide and deep river bridged with boats anchored side by side.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “to throw a bridge over” has almost gone; in shipbuilding the verb came to mean covering a boat with a deck, first seen in the participle ponté in 1558.^[4][2][7] Following the use of pont in wrestling, it is used intransitively for making a bridge with the body,^[4][2] and in surgery, after pontage, it means to perform a bypass.^[4][8]

Timeline

• 1272–1274 – Anglo-Norman pounter “to bridge a river”.^[2][4]
• c. 1500 – Jean d’Auton uses ponter of bridging a river.^[2][7]
• 1558 – Philippe de Clèves uses it for decking a ship.^[2]
• 1848 – Jal records the modern nautical sense.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (rare) To cross by building a bridge over: On a ponté le ravin l’an dernier..^[8]
2. (nautical) To fit a boat with a deck: Le charpentier a ponté la chaloupe.^{[2][8][9][10]}
3. (wrestling, intransitive) To make a bridge, arching the body backwards.^[2]
4. (surgery) To perform a bypass on a patient.^[8][4]

ponter² to punt, to bet against the bank

Derivations · ponter²

ponte

Pronunciation

• /pɔ̃.te/^[1]

Forms

ponter^[1]

Etymology

The verb for betting against the bank is from Middle French pont (“put, placed”), the old masculine past participle (also ponte) of pondre “to put”.^{[11][4][3][1]} The GLLF finds se pondre “to settle” in Georges Chastellain about 1460.^[7] That verb comes from Latin pōnō (“to put, place”), which in Classical Latin could already mean to put down a stake.^[3][4][12]

Since the French verb kept only the sense of laying eggs in Gallo-Romance, the DHLF compares Old Occitan ponher (“to put”) (1344) and Middle French poner, which in the Loire country meant to carry goods up the river and in Franco-Provençal to put down money, to pay.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Académie records it in 1718, for staking against the player who holds the bank.^[7][11] The DHLF notes that the word is older than this record.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The noun ponte (1703), for each player who bets against the banker, is found before the verb but seems to be formed from it.^[4][11] The verb is first intransitive, “to bet against the banker”; from 1831 it is also transitive, “to stake a sum on something”, as in Balzac.^[4][2] It is still used for betting at baccarat and roulette.^[8][10]

Timeline

• 1703 – The noun ponte “player against the bank” is recorded.^[11][4]
• 1718 – The Académie records ponter.^[7][11]
• 1831 – Balzac uses it transitively in La Peau de chagrin.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (gambling, intransitive) To play against the banker, at baccara or roulette.^[8][10][9]
2. (gambling, transitive) To stake a sum: Il a ponté cent euros sur le rouge.^[8][10][2]

Word family

• ponte²