vestibule

Forms

vestibule m (plural vestibules)^[1] Earlier semi-learned vestible, found in the 14th and 16th centuries.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin vestibulum (“entrance court, entrance”), taken first directly from Latin and then again borrowed from Italian vestibolo, which is recorded in Italian from 1532.^[2][4][5] The Grand Robert and Rey date the semi-learned form to the 13th century and see the modern form as a learned remaking under the influence of the Latin and Italian words.^[6][4]

The origin of the Latin word is unclear: Rey mentions an ingenious explanation as an old compound meaning “place of the door” but considers the question unsettled, and Etymonline, after de Vaan, calls it unknown.^[4][7] Littré reports older explanations from the prefix vē- and stabulum (“standing place”), from the goddess Vesta, and Mommsen's from vestis (“garment”), since the Romans left their togas there.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The modern form first appears, before 1483, in a figurative use in Jean Molinet's Dictier sur Tournay.^[2][4] Octovien de Saint-Gelais's translation of the Aeneid (1500) uses it in the Latin sense “entrance room”;^[2][4] Bloch and Wartburg date that translation to 1509.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In architecture the word spread through a French translation of Serlio's Italian treatise (1545).^[2] A translation of 1553 still explains it as vestibule que nous disons avantportail “vestibule, which we call fore-porch”.^[5] The figurative sense of a threshold or prelude is found again in d'Holbach (1770), who calls the earth the vestibule of an eternal kingdom.^[2]

By likeness, anatomy used it from 1690 (Furetière) for a cavity of the inner ear, and since 1835 for part of the female genitals;^[2][4] vestibule laryngé is recorded in 1935.^[2][4] In African French it also names the room or hut where visitors are received.^[4] English vestibule is recorded from the 1620s.^[7]

Timeline

• Before 1483 – Jean Molinet uses it figuratively.^[2]
• 1500 – Octovien de Saint-Gelais's Aeneid uses it for an entrance room.^[2]
• 1545 – The French translation of Serlio uses it in architecture.^[2]
• 1620s – English vestibule is recorded.^[7]
• 1690 – Furetière records the anatomical sense of the inner ear.^[2][4]
• 1770 – D'Holbach uses it figuratively.^[2]
• 1835 – It is used for part of the female genitals.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. An entrance hall: the room at the entrance of a house, flat or building, leading to the other rooms: Elle l'attendait dans le vestibule.^[3][2][1]
2. (Roman antiquity) The space between the door of a house and the street, where visitors waited.^[8]
3. (anatomy) The central cavity of the labyrinth of the inner ear.^[3][2]
4. (anatomy) Other entrance cavities of the body, such as that of the vulva, or vestibule laryngé.^[2][9]
5. (figurative, literary) The threshold or prelude of something.^[2]
6. (Africa) The room or hut where visitors are received.^[4]

Word family

• vestibulaire

Related words

• Latin vestibulum
• English vestibule

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 r 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse