sentier

Forms

sentier m (plural sentiers)^[1] Old French senter (about 1100), sentier (about 1165), sentir (about 1190), semter (1400) and sendier (about 1430).^[2][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include center and sentiere.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sēmitārius,^[2][3][5] the Classical Latin adjective sēmitārius (“of the lanes, keeping to the lanes”) used as a noun, from sēmita (“footpath, lane”).^[3][5][1] Medieval Latin charters record it as semtero (908, in the Cluny charters) and semitarius (1108), later senterium (1184).^[2][3] The Robert dictionaries give the Latin source only as probable.^[6][7] The Latin noun itself survives in sente.^[8][3]

Cognate with Old Occitan sendier, Catalan sender, Spanish sendero and Portuguese sendeiro.^[9][3][10] Italian sentiero and the later Occitan sentier were borrowed from French.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as senter in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100; 1080 in the Robert and the GLLF), for a narrow way used by people on foot in the country or the woods: Il nen i a ne veie ne senter “there is neither road nor path”.^[2][6][5][9]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense has stayed unchanged through the centuries.^[3] Beaumanoir's customary of the late 13th century defines the sentier as the narrowest kind of way, four feet wide.^[9]

From the 12th century the word was used figuratively for the way one follows to reach a goal (1174–76, Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence), and Rutebeuf speaks of le droit sentier, the right moral path (1255–71); the idea of narrowness and difficulty went with it.^[2][3] Chrétien de Troyes has santiers batuz, beaten paths, in the literal sense (1176–81); La Fontaine writes of sentiers peu battus (1678), and the figurative les sentiers battus “the commonplace ways” dates from 1796.^[2][3]

Le sentier de la guerre (1872, Alphonse Daudet), a calque of English said of the North American Indians, gave être sur le sentier de la guerre “to be ready for a fight”.^[2][3][7] Le Sentier lumineux is a calque of the Spanish name of the guerrilla movement Sendero luminoso.^[3]

Timeline

• About 1100 – Senter appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• About 1165 – The form sentier is used by Benoît de Sainte-Maure in the Roman de Troie.^[2]
• 1174–76 – Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it figuratively for the way to a goal.^[2]
• 1176–81 – Chrétien de Troyes writes of santiers batuz, beaten paths.^[2]
• 1255–71 – Rutebeuf speaks of le droit sentier, the moral path.^[2]
• 1678 – La Fontaine writes les sentiers peu battus.^[2][3]
• 1796 – Les sentiers battus is used figuratively.^[2][3]
• 1872 – Le sentier de la guerre appears in Daudet's Tartarin de Tarascon.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A narrow path for people on foot and for animals, in the country, the woods or the mountains.^[7][2][9]
2. Sentier de grande randonnée: a long-distance hiking trail.^[7]
3. (figurative) A way or course followed in life or towards a goal: les sentiers de la gloire.^[7][2]
4. Les sentiers battus: the beaten track, the usual and commonplace ways.^[7][3]
5. Être sur le sentier de la guerre: to be ready to fight, on the warpath.^[7][3]

Related words

• sente
• Latin sēmita

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 q 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 k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter