véhicule

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ve.i.kyl/^[1]
• IPA: /vi.kyl/^[1]

Forms

véhicule m (plural véhicules)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vehiculum (“means of transport, carriage”),^[2][3][4][5] from Latin vehō (“to carry, convey”) (see vecteur and voiture), which corresponds to Sanskrit वहति (vahati, “he conveys in a chariot”) and belongs to an Indo-European root “*wegh-” “to move, draw”, also the source of Latin via (“way”) and of wagon.^[3][6]

English vehicle (1610s) comes from French “véhicule”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Canappe (1538) uses it in pharmacy for the liquid in which a medicine is dissolved;^[2][3] Paré (1561) calls the serum le vehicule du sang.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

In 1551 a glossary to a translation of Leone Ebreo defines it as a cart, a barrow or any instrument for carrying;^[8][2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the concrete sense “carriage” spread only about 1816, the word having been used before in technical senses.^[4] It now names any means of land transport (véhicule hippomobile, 1898, véhicule utilitaire), and in a wider sense also spacecraft.^[2][3]

From about 1660 (Bossuet) it was what serves to communicate, as in la langue, véhicule de la pensée, and in physics the medium carrying light (1694).^[3][9] In painting it is a medium for colours (1808–1812).^[2][3] In 1849 it rendered Sanskrit yāna in Grand Véhicule and Petit Véhicule, the two schools of Buddhism.^[2][3] The verb véhiculer dates from 1835.^[3]

Timeline

• 1538 – A pharmaceutical vehicle, in Canappe.^[2]
• 1551 – “Cart, barrow”.^[8]
• 1561 – Le vehicule du sang in Paré.^[2]
• 1610s – English vehicle.^[6]
• c. 1660 – A means of communication, in Bossuet.^[3]
• 1835 – Véhiculer.^[3]
• 1849 – Grand Véhicule, Petit Véhicule.^[2]
• 1905 – Langue véhiculaire.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A vehicle: véhicule automobile, véhicule utilitaire, véhicule spatial.^[10][11]
2. A medium, vehicle (of ideas): la langue, véhicule de la pensée.^[10][11]
3. (medicine, physics) A carrier, medium, (pharmacy) a liquid excipient.^[10][11]
4. (painting) A medium, binder.^[10][9]
5. (Buddhism) Grand Véhicule, Petit Véhicule: Mahayana, Hinayana.^[10][1]

Word family

• véhiculer
• véhiculaire

Related words

• vecteur
• voiture
• voie
• Latin vehiculum
• English vehicle

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 215b
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)