sapeur

Forms

sapeur m (plural sapeurs)^[1] Middle French sappeur (1547).^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French saper + -eur, first recorded as sappeur in 1547.^[2][3][4][5] The verb, “to undermine a wall”, was taken in 1547 as a term of military engineering from Italian zappare (“to hoe, dig”), from zappa (“hoe”).^[2][3][6] The Italian noun goes back to Medieval Latin sappa, recorded in the 8th century, and Bloch and Wartburg note that the Italian ⟨z-⟩ arose by contact with words such as the preposition con.^[3][6] Picoche considers the Latin word to be of Mediterranean origin.^[7] Rey also reports Pierre Guiraud's view that it is connected with Latin sapa (“boiled-down must”), which took the sense “sap” in Romance.^[6]

Compare Spanish zapa.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1547, in Jean Martin's French Vitruvius, sappeur is a soldier employed to sap fortifications.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

From the soldier who undermined walls, the word passed to sapeur-mineur (1720) and, from 1790, to any soldier of the engineering corps.^[6][8] Infantrymen armed with an axe who cleared the way at the head of a regiment were also called sapeurs.^[8][9]

From about 1850 the sapeur was commonly pictured with a long square beard and a pipe, hence barbe de sapeur “a big beard”, the sense “cigar barely smoked” (1880, now gone) and fumer comme un sapeur “to smoke heavily”, still in use, perhaps also through the firefighters called sapeurs-pompiers.^[6] The TLFi dates barbe de sapeur from 1831.^[2]

Timeline

• 1547 – Sappeur appears in Jean Martin's translation of Vitruvius.^[2][8]
• 1720 – Sapeur-mineur is recorded.^[6]
• 1790 – It names a soldier of the engineers.^[6][8]
• 1831 – Eugène Sue writes barbe de sapeur.^[2]
• 1880 – Slang use for a cigar barely smoked.^[6]
• 20th century – Fumer comme un sapeur “to smoke heavily”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A soldier of the engineering corps (génie), employed on saps and other works, a sapper.^[10][11][2]
2. (historical) An infantryman armed with an axe who marched at the head of a regiment to clear its road.^[8][5][9]
3. Barbe de sapeur: a long, thick beard.^[5][6]
4. Fumer comme un sapeur (familiar): to smoke a great deal.^[10][5][6]
5. Tablier de sapeur (cooking): a traditional Lyon dish of fried tripe.^[5]

Related words

• saper
• sape
• sapeur-pompier

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has two further words spelled sapeur: a reaper who works with a sape (from 2. saper, 1846), which the TLFi dates from 1845,^[4][2] and, in the French of Africa, a man very concerned with elegant dress, recorded from about 1970 and a derivative of the pronominal verb se saper “to dress up”.^[4][5] This African word, with the feminine sapeuse, is attested in Côte d'Ivoire, Chad and the Central African Republic,^[12] and it is also read as the acronym of Société des ambianceurs et des personnes élégantes, the movement called La Sape.^[4][11][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Base de données lexicographiques panfrancophone (BDLP), Trésor de la langue française au Québec / Agence universitaire de la Francophonie, bdlp.org