salon

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sa.lɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

salon m (plural salons)^[1] Also sallon (1652).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian salone (“large hall”),^[2][3][4][5] the augmentative of sala (“hall”),^[2][3] which the TLFi and the Académie take from French salle;^[2][6] Wiktionary takes sala from Lombardic sala.^[1] Both go back to a Germanic word for a dwelling, Frankish *sal,^[7] from Proto-Germanic *salą (“dwelling, hall”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 1650 in Fréart de Chambray's translation of Palladio's treatise on architecture, for a reception room in a private house.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the reception room the word passed to the society that gathered there: the literary salons of the 17th and 18th centuries,^[8][9] and in 1793 Mme de Staël uses it for a place of meeting and conversation;^[2] faire salon “to hold court, chat” is from 1850.^[2]

Exhibitions of living artists were held every two years in the Salon carré of the Louvre from 1737, so that le Salon named the exhibition itself (1750) and, after Diderot's Salons, a review of it (1768);^[3][2][10] later came the Salon des refusés (1863) and the Salon d'automne (1903), and any trade show (Salon de l'automobile).^[3][8] In trades it named a room for receiving customers (1798), as in salon de coiffure and salon de thé.^[2][1]

Timeline

• 1650 – A reception room (Fréart de Chambray).^[2][3]
• 1664 – The date Bloch and Wartburg give (Loret).^[4][5]
• 1678 – Salon de feuillage, a leafy bower.^[3][10]
• 1737 – Exhibitions begin in the Salon carré of the Louvre.^[2][3]
• 1750 – Salon “art exhibition”.^[2][3]
• 1793 – A gathering place for conversation.^[2]
• 1863 – The Salon des refusés.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A living room, the room where visitors are received.^[8][1]
2. A set of furniture for such a room.^[8][2]
3. A regular gathering of writers, artists and society people at a private house; a salon.^[8][9]
4. An exhibition or trade show: le Salon de l'automobile.^[8][1]
5. A room for customers: salon de coiffure “hairdresser's”, salon de thé “tearoom”.^[8][1]

Word family

• salonnier
• salonnard

Related words

• salle
• English salon
• English saloon

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 9b
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse