usage

Forms

usage m (plural usages)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French us + -age, the old word for “custom, use”.^[2][3][4] The TLFi, the Grand Robert and Rey present it as a learned derivative of Latin ūsus (“use, custom”) with the suffix -age;^[5][6][3] The Latin noun meant “use, employment”, “right of use”, “practice” and “experience”, and is the action noun of ūtor (“to use”).^[3] Medieval Latin had usagium (12th century) and usaticus (10th century).^[5] Wiktionary also notes that the word can be analysed as user with the same suffix.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan usatge, which passed into Italian usaggio and Spanish usaje.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1155 in Wace's Roman de Brut, meaning a generally accepted practice or custom.^[5][6][9]

Semantic evolution

The word took over the senses of Latin usus.^[3] As a social practice it gave d'usage “customary”, and it also meant a person's manner of being or conduct (about 1190), a sense now lost.^[3][5] At the same time it meant the act of using something (about 1190), from which came the old senses “due paid for the use of something” (about 1240), “usufruct”, a wood where people had rights of use (1287), and in the plural common land (1435, until the 18th century); in law droit d'usage (early 14th century) and then usage alone named the right to use a thing belonging to another, especially to cut wood or graze cattle.^[3][5]

From the 14th century, and above all from the 16th, it was said of the use of words: en usage (1370, Oresme) and hors d'usage (1538) for words in use and out of use.^[3][5] From the early 17th century it named the actual, normal use of the language, from which Vaugelas's bon usage.^[3][10] At the end of the 16th century it took the sense “function, purpose”, still alive in à usage interne and à usage externe, and in the 17th century it entered phrases such as faire usage de and mettre en usage.^[3][9] By extension from social practice it also named knowledge of the world and good manners (1666, Molière).^[3]

English usage was taken from Anglo-French and Old French about 1300, first meaning an established custom.^[11]

Timeline

• 1155 – First record, in Wace's Roman de Brut, for a custom.^[5][9]
• c. 1190 – Used of the act of using something.^[3][6]
• c. 1245 – Usages means taxes or dues, in Philippe Mousket.^[5]
• 1261 – Usaiges de Borgoingne for the customs of a region.^[5]
• c. 1300 – English borrows the word.^[11]
• 1370 – Oresme writes of words en usage commun and of usage de raison.^[5]
• 1538 – Hors d'usage is recorded by Robert Estienne.^[5][3]
• 1553 – À l'usage de “intended for” appears.^[3][9]
• 1606 – A grammar printed with Nicot's Thresor uses it for the rules of the language.^[10]
• 1652 – Guez de Balzac writes of le bon usage.^[5]
• 1666 – Molière uses it for knowledge of the world.^[3]
• 1694 – The Académie records the word.^[5]
• 1872 – Faire de l'usage “to last” is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The use of something, the act of making it serve a purpose: l'usage d'un ordinateur.^[12][4][13]
2. The exercise of a faculty: perdre l'usage de la parole.^[4][13]
3. A purpose or function: un outil à plusieurs usages, à usage interne.^[4][3]
4. A practice usually observed in a group or society, a custom: d'usage, “customary”.^[4][5][3]
5. (linguistics) The way the words of a language are actually used: le bon usage, en usage, hors d'usage.^[1][3]
6. (law) The right to use a thing belonging to another.^[3][8]
7. (dated) Knowledge of the world, good manners.^[3]

Word family

• usager
• usagé
• mésusage
• non-usage

Related words

• us
• user
• Latin ūsus
• English usage

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
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. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)