sauvetage

Forms

sauvetage m (plural sauvetages)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French sauver + -age,^[2][1] with the suffix enlarged to -etage after sauveté “safety”,^[2][3][4][5] so as to avoid a clash with sauvage “wild”.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg note that a derivative of that shape, recorded in 1671, could not survive for that reason.^[5] The verb comes from Late Latin salvō (“to save”), a word mainly of Church Latin.^[5]

It took the place of older words for the salvage of wrecks: sauvaige, a duty levied on goods found from wrecks (1526),^[2] sauvage (1591, at Saint-Malo) and sauvelage (1611, Cotgrave).^[6][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bourdé de Villehuet's Manuel des marins (1773) defines it as the recovery of goods or ships that have been wrecked.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

A word of the navy at first, it named the saving of a ship, its crew, passengers or cargo,^[2][7] and gave the names of rescue equipment: bouée de sauvetage (1811), canot de sauvetage (1831), bateau de sauvetage (1834), ceinture de sauvetage (1859) and gilet de sauvetage (1890).^[2] Littré still defined it as a term of the navy.^[3]

In 1801 Mercier used it for saving people from any disaster, with échelle de sauvetage for the ladders used at fires.^[2][7] The figurative sense, saving someone morally or socially, appears in the Goncourts' Journal in 1862,^[2] and today it also covers the rescue of a firm or a group from a critical situation.^[7] The agent noun sauveteur followed in 1836.^[5]

Timeline

• 1526 – Sauvaige names a duty levied on goods from wrecks.^[2]
• 1591 – Sauvage in this sense is recorded at Saint-Malo.^[2][6]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records sauvelage.^[6]
• 1773 – Sauvetage appears in Bourdé de Villehuet's Manuel des marins.^[2]
• 1801 – Mercier uses it for rescue from any disaster, and has échelle de sauvetage.^[2][7]
• 1811 – Bouée de sauvetage is recorded.^[2][6]
• 1831 – Canot de sauvetage is recorded.^[2]
• 1836 – The agent noun sauveteur appears.^[5]
• 1862 – The Goncourts use it figuratively.^[2]
• 1890 – Gilet de sauvetage is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The rescue of a ship in distress, its crew, passengers or cargo;^[7][2] bateau de sauvetage, canot de sauvetage, a lifeboat, also bouée de sauvetage, gilet de sauvetage.^[7][2]
2. The rescue of people or goods from any disaster, such as a fire, flood or landslide: le sauvetage des mineurs a duré trois jours.^[7][2]
3. (figurative) The act of getting someone, a group or something out of a critical situation: le sauvetage d'une banque.^[7][2]
4. (sports) A save.^[1]

Related words

• sauf
• sauver
• sauveteur
• sauveté
• sauvegarde

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 m n o p q r s t u v 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert