poste

French has two nouns poste, both from Italian: the feminine la poste “post, mail; post office”, from posta, and the masculine le poste “post, position; set”, from posto.^[1][2][3]

poste¹ post office

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɔst/^[3]

Forms

poste f (plural postes)^[3]

Etymology

The feminine is borrowed from Italian posta (“stall; relay of horses”),^[1][2][4][5] the feminine past participle used as a noun of porre (“to place, put”), from Latin pōnō (“to place”).^[1][4][6] The Petit Robert takes “posta” from Latin “posita” “places, positions”.^[6] Marco Polo's French (1298) already has “poste de chevaus”, translating Italian.^[1][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A letter of Louis XI (29 October 1480) uses it for the body of mounted couriers carrying letters and for each relay of horses along their road;^[1][2] the royal postal service had been set up about 1475.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Travelling by relays gave chevaulx de poste (1495–1496), en poste “very fast” (Commynes, 1497–1498) and courir la poste (1522); maître de poste and chaise de poste belong to this system.^[1][6] The public carriage of letters began in the 17th century (mettre à la poste, 1625), and Molière (1655) uses poste for the post office itself, poste restante dates from 1793, Paris's petite poste from 1758.^[1][8][2] Littré (1869) records the public administration, la Poste.^[1] The derivatives postal (1836) and postier (1841) followed.^[2]

Timeline

• 1298 – Poste de chevaus in Marco Polo.^[1]
• 1480 – Royal couriers and relays, under Louis XI.^[1]
• 1522 – Courir la poste.^[1]
• 1625 – Mettre à la poste.^[8]
• 1655 – The post office, in Molière.^[1]
• 1758 – Paris's petite poste.^[2]
• 1793 – Poste restante.^[1]
• 1836 – Postal.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The post, mail, postal service: envoyer par la poste, la Poste.^[3][6]
2. A post office: aller à la poste.^[3][1]
3. (history) A relay of post horses; the stage between relays: chevaux de poste.^[6][1]
4. Poste restante: poste restante, general delivery.^[1]

Word family

• postal
• postier
• poster

poste² post, position

Pronunciation

• IPA: /pɔst/^[3]

Forms

poste m (plural postes)^[3]

Etymology

The masculine is borrowed from Italian posto (“place, position”),^[9][2][3] the masculine past participle used as a noun of porre (“to place”), Italian “posto” named about 1550 a place where a soldier or small unit is stationed.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It came into French about 1636 as a military term, the place assigned to a soldier or unit and the soldiers holding it.^[9][2]

Semantic evolution

Military uses include abandonner son poste, poste de combat and avant-poste (1790–1799); poste de police, de douane (1863) and de pompiers (1865) are guardrooms and their premises, and in hunting a poste is the place where the hunter waits (1798).^[9][2][1] From the 17th century (about 1663) it was the job assigned to someone, especially an official.^[9] The miners' shift was a poste (1812), and in book-keeping a poste is an item of an account (1812).^[9]

From the end of the 19th century it named a set of apparatus, then a single device: poste téléphonique (1891), poste de TSF (1902), and le poste for the radio or television set.^[9] Solide au poste dates from 1799, and computing has poste de travail.^[8][9]

Timeline

• c. 1550 – Italian posto “military post”.^[9]
• c. 1636 – Poste in French.^[9]
• c. 1663 – A job, office.^[9]
• 1798 – A hunter's post.^[9]
• 1799 – Solide au poste.^[8]
• 1812 – A miner's shift; an item of account.^[9]
• 1865 – Le poste “police station”.^[9]
• 1891 – Poste téléphonique.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A post, job: un poste d'enseignant, être à son poste.^[3][10]
2. A military post; the soldiers manning it: poste avancé.^[1][9]
3. Poste de police, le poste: police station.^[3][9]
4. A station: poste de pilotage, poste d'essence, poste de travail: workstation.^[10][9]
5. A set (radio, television): allumer le poste.^[3][9]
6. (telephone) An extension.^[3]
7. An item (in accounts, a budget).^[9]

Word family

• poster
• avant-poste

Related words

• poser
• pondre
• position

Usage notes

An older feminine poste “position”, from Old French pondre “to place”, survives in the nautical à poste “in place” (mettre l'ancre à poste), and in the obsolete à la poste de qqn “at someone's disposal” (Molière).^[4][6][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 164a
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse