sabre

Forms

sabre m (plural sabres)^[1] Early 17th-century variant sable.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Sabel, a variant of the standard German spelling ⟨Säbel⟩,^{[2][5][6][3][7]} which German took from Hungarian szablya, either directly or through Polish szabla or the Russian word.^[2][5][4] The word came into French with the German mercenaries.^[6][5] Littré compares Spanish sable and Italian sciabola.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rey dates the first record to 1598, in Bouchet, in the sense “whip”;^[6][5] the sense of the weapon follows in 1629 (as sable) and 1634.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

From the weapon, le sabre came to stand for military power (1817, Madame de Staël),^[2][6] hence the scornful traîneur de sabre, a boastful, warlike soldier (before 1836),^[2][9] and le sabre et le goupillon for the army and the Church together, found in Gautier (1836) and Clemenceau (1899).^[2][10] Bruit de sabre “threat of war” is now dated, and sabre de bois ! is a familiar oath.^[6]

By likeness of shape it named tools and blades: a tool for skimming glass (1765), a hedge-trimming blade (1842), the haricot sabre (1870) and the long centreboard of some yachts (1964).^[2] In 1898 it named the fencing discipline.^[2][6] In Guadeloupe and New Caledonia it is a machete, and in the Indian Ocean the knife for cutting sugar cane (sabre à canne).^[6]

English took the word in the 1670s.^[11]

Timeline

• 1598 – First recorded, meaning “whip”.^[6][5]
• 1629 – Sable is used of the curved sword.^[2]
• 1647 – The form sabre appears in Cleirac.^[2]
• 1670s – English saber is borrowed from French.^[11]
• 1680 – The verb sabrer is recorded.^[5]
• 1817 – Madame de Staël uses it for military force.^[2]
• 1836 – Gautier sets the sabre beside the sprinkler as figures of rule.^[2]
• 1898 – It names the fencing discipline.^[2]
• 1964 – Sabre d'abattis is recorded for a bush-clearing tool.^[9][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sabre, a side arm with a point and a single edge and a more or less curved blade: sabre au clair.^[10][2][4]
2. Traîneur de sabre: a boastful, bellicose soldier.^[10][9]
3. Le sabre et le goupillon: the army and the Church.^[10][12]
4. (sport) Fencing with the sabre.^[12][6]
5. (technical) Any of several tools shaped like a sabre blade, for trimming hedges or for sabrage.^[10][2]
6. A scaleless sea fish, the cutlassfish.^[12][1]

Word family

• sabrer
• sabreur

Related words

• German Säbel
• Hungarian szablya
• English saber

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 n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 1a
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)