sabotage

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sa.bɔ.taʒ/^[1]

Forms

sabotage m (plural sabotages)^[1]

Etymology

It is from French saboter + -age.^[2][3][1] Saboter is derived from sabot “wooden shoe, clog”; it first meant to play with a top (1564), then to make a noise with one's clogs (1690).^[2][4] The TLFi and the FEW suggest that its sense “to botch” may come from the old sense “to shake, knock” of Middle French caboter (early 14th century) and Old Occitan sabotar, whence “to ill-treat” (1640).^[2][5] The origin of sabot itself is uncertain: Bloch and Wartburg see in it the Poitevin bot, a form of botte, altered under the influence of savate, while Guiraud separates a Norman-Picard çabot (“spinning top”) from a southern sabot.^[6][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1842, in the supplement to the Académie dictionary, for the making of clogs;^[3][7] the TLFi's first record is Bescherelle's dictionary of 1846.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In this sense it was soon replaced by saboterie.^[4] As a technical term it named the notching of railway sleepers to seat the rails (1870, Littré) and the fitting of a metal shoe to a stake.^[2][7]

The modern sense grew from the verb saboter “to botch, do quickly and badly”, recorded from 1808.^[4][2] In 1897 the anarchist Émile Pouget, in Le Père Peinard, used sabotage for deliberately bad work as a weapon of workers against their employers; by 1909 the economist Charles Gide uses it for any material act meant to stop a service, firm or machine from working.^[2] From there it was applied to military destruction and, figuratively, to the wrecking of a plan or negotiation.^[4][8]

English took sabotage in 1907, after using it as a French word from 1903;^[9] Etymonline notes that the story of strikers throwing their clogs into machines is not borne out by the history of the word.^[9]

Timeline

• 1564 – Saboter “to play with a top” is recorded.^[2]
• 1808 – Saboter “to botch” is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1842 – Sabotage “clog-making” appears in the Académie's supplement.^[3][7]
• 1870 – Littré records the notching of railway sleepers.^[2]
• 1897 – Émile Pouget uses it for deliberately bad work.^[2]
• 1903–1907 – English takes up the word.^[9]
• 1909 – Charles Gide uses it for an act that stops a firm or machine from working.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Deliberate damage to equipment or installations to stop them working: sabotage industriel.^[8][10]
2. Deliberately bad or careless work; botching.^[8][10]
3. (figurative) Action intended to make an undertaking fail: le sabotage d'une négociation.^[8][10]
4. (technical) The notching of railway sleepers to seat the rails; the fitting of a shoe to a stake.^[10][8]
5. (dated) Clog-making.^[10][7]

Related words

• saboter
• saboteur
• sabot
• English sabotage

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 44a
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)