valet

Forms

valet m (plural valets)^[1] Old French vallet (about 1138), vaslet and valet (about 1155), and varlet (about 1172, used until the 17th century).^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also had vadlet, vatlet and varlet.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French vaslet, inherited from Vulgar Latin *vassellittus, a double diminutive of Latin vassus (“servant”),^[3][2][5][1] formed with the suffixes that gave -eau and -et.^[6] The Latin word comes from Gaulish *wassos (“young man, squire”),^[1][5][7] and is also the source of vassal.^[2][3] Wiktionary traces the Gaulish word to Proto-Celtic *wastos (“servant”), comparing Old Irish foss and Welsh gwas.^[1]

Bloch and Wartburg note that this form gave varlet, kept in literary use for the original sense.^[3] Littré gives the regional forms Norman vâlet (“farmhand”), also used in Berry, and Walloon vârlet (“servant”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1140 in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, in a hunting scene, for a boy or young man of noble family, not yet knighted, who performed various services.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

Two lines of meaning developed, “young man” (until the 16th century) and “servant”.^[2] From about 1155 the word named a young nobleman not yet dubbed knight, and about 1160 one placed with a lord to learn knighthood; in the 12th century it could even mean a prince, a king's son.^[2][6] Moving from feudal service to domestic service, often with a slighting tone, it meant “servant” from the 12th century, but this sense won out only in the 16th century, since in Old and Middle French the idea of service stayed linked to nobility.^[2][3] Pasquier wrote in 1615: valet ancienement s'adaptoit fort souvent à titre d'honneur près des rois “valet was formerly very often given as a title of honour near kings”.^[6][3]

Many phrases named officers and workers: vallet de chambre (1306), varlet de chiens (1377), valet d'écurie (1606), valet de ferme (1835).^[6][2] From the 17th century it also meant a servile, obsequious man (1665, Retz), and je suis votre valet (1658) was a polite formula, used ironically for a refusal from 1661.^[2] The playing card is recorded as varlet in 1511 by the DHLF,^[2] and in 1611 by the TLFi, in Cotgrave's valet de Picques.^[6][9]

The idea of service also passed to tools and devices: varlet d'huis, a counterweight that shuts a door (1539), the joiner's holdfast (1622), and later the valet de nuit, a clothes stand (1964).^[6][10][9]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Gaimar uses it for a young noble serving in the hunt.^[6]
• 1155 – Wace uses it for a male child of noble birth.^[6]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses vaslet for young men about to be knighted and for servants.^[6]
• 1306 – Joinville writes of the king's vallet de sa chambre.^[6]
• 1511 – The playing card is called varlet.^[2]
• 1539 – Varlet d'huis names a door counterweight.^[6]
• 1585 – The collective valetaille appears.^[3]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records valet de Picques, the jack of spades.^[6][9]
• 1622 – First record of the joiner's holdfast.^[6][9]
• 1658 – Votre valet is used as a parting formula.^[6][2]
• 1964 – Valet de nuit names a clothes stand.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A squire in the service of a lord; an officer of a royal or princely household: valet de chambre du roi.^[10][6]
2. In card games, the jack: valet de cœur.^[10][1]
3. (dated) A male servant, a footman: valet de pied, valet de chambre; also the stock servant character of comedy.^[10][6]
4. (derogatory) A servile, obsequious person: les valets du pouvoir.^[10][2]
5. A worker employed for certain tasks: valet de ferme, a farmhand, valet d'écurie, a stable boy.^[10][2]
6. (technical) A tool or device that helps in a task, especially the valet de menuisier, a joiner's holdfast.^[10][1]
7. valet de nuit: a stand with a hanger on which clothes are laid when undressing.^[10][1]

Word family

• valetaille
• valetage
• valeter

Related words

• vassal
• varlet

Usage notes

Je suis votre valet was formerly a polite formula like je suis votre serviteur; it is now obsolete.^[2][10] The proverb tel maître, tel valet is still current.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert