sangle

Forms

sangle f (plural sangles)^[1] Old French cengle (Chanson de Roland) and sengle (12th century); the spelling sangle dates from the 14th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cengle, inherited from Latin cingula (“girth, belt”),^[5][6][4][2] through a Vulgar Latin *cingla.^[1] That noun is from Latin cingō (“to gird”), the source of ceindre.^[2][4][7]

The mountaineering sense comes from Franco-Provençal séngle “narrow passage between rocks, grassy ledge”, from Latin cingulum (“belt”).^[5]

Cognate with Italian cinghia, Old Occitan cengla, Catalan singla and Portuguese cilha;^[8][9] Spanish cincha comes instead from cincta, the past participle of the same verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as cengles in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), for the girths that pass under a pack animal's belly to hold the saddle or packsaddle.^[5][2][9]

Semantic evolution

By analogy the word meant the enclosing wall of a town (about 1130), a sense now lost.^[2] From the 16th century it was used for any strap of leather or cloth for binding or carrying (1532, Rabelais); from 1680 it also named the strong webbing that forms the bottom of a seat, as in lit de sangle.^[5][2] The navy used it for a braided cord (1702).^[5]

In anatomy sangle abdominale (1895) is the set of abdominal muscles that hold the viscera.^[5][2] Mountaineers have used it since the 1890s for a gently sloping ledge across a rock face.^[2][5][10]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Cengles “saddle girths” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• c. 1130 – Used for the walls around a town.^[2]
• 12th century – The verb cengler (now sangler) is recorded.^[4]
• 14th century – The spelling sangle appears.^[2][3]
• 1532 – Rabelais uses it for a strap for binding or carrying.^[5][2]
• 1680 – Richelet records webbing for straps, and lit de sangle.^[5][3]
• 1895 – Sangle abdominale is recorded in medicine.^[5]
• 1896 – First record in mountaineering, in the Revue alpine.^[5][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wide flat strap of leather or strong cloth used to tighten, hold or carry something: une malle fermée par deux sangles.^[5][7][11]
2. The girth that passes under a horse's or pack animal's belly to hold the saddle or packsaddle.^[5][11]
3. Strong webbing forming the bottom of a seat or bed: lit de sangle.^[7][9]
4. Sangle abdominale: the abdominal muscles that support the viscera.^[7][12]
5. (mountaineering) A gently sloping ledge that lets one cross a rock face.^[12][2]
6. The static line that opens a parachute automatically.^[7][1]

Word family

• sangler
• dessangler

Related words

• ceindre
• ceinture
• cingler
• Latin cingula

Usage notes

Old French also had sangle “single, not lined” (of cloth), from Latin singulus.^[9][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 681a
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)