sabot

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sa.bo/^[1]
• IPA: /sa.bɔ/^[1]

Forms

sabot m (plural sabots)^[1] Old French çabot, cabot, Picard chabot.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][5] Bloch and Wartburg explain it as an alteration of Poitevin bot (“clog”), a form of botte “boot”, by crossing with savate “old shoe”;^[3][6][7] the TLFi agrees.^[6] The FEW and the Grand Robert relate bot to Old French bot (“toad”), properly “something squat and rough-hewn”, from a Germanic Proto-Germanic *butt- (“blunt”);^[8][5][9] the first syllable is unexplained.^[8][5] Rey points out that the earlier sense “spinning top” fits this poorly, and gives Guiraud's view that a northern çabot merged with a southern form linked to Occitan saba (“to strip bark”).^[2]

Sabot is the northern word; the south uses forms of Old Occitan esclop, from Latin stloppus (“a slap on the puffed cheek”).^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record (early 14th century) is caboz torneiz “spun tops”,^[6] and a 13th-century miracle of Saint Louis tells of a child playing with his cabot.^[4][5] The shoe sense, though thought to be the original one, is recorded only from 1512.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Villon's dormir comme un sabot “to sleep like a top” (about 1460) keeps the toy sense.^[5][4] As the clog of country people, it became a figure of poverty, and je le vois venir avec ses gros sabots “I can see him coming a mile off” goes back to a 1585 phrase.^[5][4]

Other senses grew from the shape: a horse's hoof (1564),^[6][5] a metal shoe on the foot of furniture (1762),^[6] a half-length bath (1798),^[6] a bad violin (1835),^[6] and in the 20th century the wheel clamp.^[10][7] The verb saboter, around 1300 “to knock, jolt”, came to mean “to botch work” (1808), and gave sabotage at the end of the 19th century.^[3][2]

Timeline

• early 14th century – Caboz “spinning tops”.^[6]
• about 1460 – Villon's dormant comme ung sabot.^[4][5]
• 1512 – The wooden shoe.^[6][7]
• 1564 – The hoof of a horse.^[6]
• 1762 – Brass shoes on furniture legs (Académie).^[6]
• 1798 – A sabot-shaped bath.^[6]
• 1808 – Saboter “to botch”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A clog, a shoe carved from one piece of wood.^[7][10]
2. The hoof of a horse or other ungulate.^[7][1]
3. (dated) A spinning top.^[6][5]
4. (familiar) A worthless tool or instrument.^[10]
5. A wheel clamp; a metal shoe or cap on the end of a post or leg.^[7][10]

Word family

• sabotage
• saboter
• sabotier

Related words

• savate
• botte
• English sabot

Usage notes

Sabot de Vénus is the lady's slipper orchid.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 43a
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)