vélo

Forms

vélo m (plural vélos)^[1]

Etymology

It is a clipping from French vélocipède, or of its own clipping véloce (July 1867).^[2][3][4][5] The shortening, made at an arbitrary point that ignores the word's makeup, came from the world of the early velocipede: makers, dealers, riders and the sporting press.^[2] The longer word (1804) is a learned compound of Latin vēlōx (“swift”) and pēs (“foot”), on the model of bipède.^[6][1]

The TLF-Étym thinks that the full word was judged too long, hard to say and awkward in compounds, and that this clipping won out over the other thanks to popular songs (one by Alexandre Flan, 1869), a daily sports paper named after it (1892) and its expressive final ⟨o⟩; it belongs to the same wave of clippings as photo (1864), auto, moto and métro.^[2] The slang use for a postilion that Vidocq recorded in 1837 was a clipping of vélocifère, a fast horse-drawn coach, by metonymy.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is in a letter of 7 April 1868 to the maker Pierre Michaux, where a customer asks the price difference between his old Vélo and a new one; the first printed one is in Le Temps of 30 August 1868, on the first races de vélocipèdes ou plutôt de vélos.^[2]

Semantic evolution

At first vélo was used mainly in compounds such as vélo-club (1869) and vélo-sport (1875).^[3][2] By 1890 it was firmly established among cyclists all over France, and the Larousse supplement of that year was the first dictionary to list it; it was first used outside cycling writing by Daudet in 1895.^[2] The Académie's eighth edition did not admit it.^[2]

The sense “cycling” is recorded from 1888 (faire du vélo), though compounds show it somewhat earlier.^[2] En vélo is found from 1879 and à vélo from 1886.^[2] In engraving vélo names a multi-branched burin (1937).^[2][3] Later compounds include vélo d'appartement (1975) and vélo tout terrain (1984), abbreviated VTT (1987).^[2]

Timeline

• 1867 – Véloce, the first clipping of vélocipède.^[2]
• 1868 – Vélo in a letter to Pierre Michaux (7 April) and in Le Temps (30 August).^[2]
• 1869 – Vélo-club.^[3][2]
• 1879 – En vélo.^[2]
• 1886 – À vélo.^[2]
• 1888 – Faire du vélo “to cycle”.^[2]
• 1890 – First dictionary record, in the Larousse supplement.^[2]
• 1892 – Pierre Giffard founds the daily Le Vélo.^[2]
• 1937 – An engraver's burin.^[2][3]
• 1984 – Vélo tout terrain.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bicycle: aller au travail à vélo, un vélo de course, un vélo tout terrain.^[5][3][2]
2. Vélo d'appartement: an exercise bike.^[5][2]
3. Cycling, riding a bicycle: faire du vélo le dimanche.^[5][3]
4. (engraving) A burin with several branches for retouching a woodcut.^[2][3]

Word family

• vélodrome
• vélomobile
• vélomoteur
• véloroute

Usage notes

À vélo is the form the purists recommend;^[5][2] en vélo is criticised but common, and the distinction was already debated in 1893.^[5][2] Vélo and bicyclette are near-synonyms: vélo is preferred for sport, bicyclette for everyday use and leisure and in a more careful register.^[2]

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 w x y z 27 Steinfeld, Nadine; Buchi, Éva, eds. (2005–), TLF-Étym: révision des notices étymologiques du Trésor de la langue française informatisé, Nancy: ATILF
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France