voie

Pronunciation

• IPA: /vwa/^[1]
• IPA: /vwɑ/^[1]

Forms

voie f (plural voies)^[1] Old French veie (11th century), voie from about 1175.^[2][3] The Académie wrote voye in 1694 and 1718, voie from 1740.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veie, inherited from Latin via (“way, road, street; journey; method”).^{[4][2][5][6][7][1]} In Latin the word was the road as opposed to sēmita (“path”) (see sente), and it also had the figurative sense “way to follow, method”, matching Ancient Greek ὁδός (hodós, “road”) in méthode.^[2] Rey connects it with the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *weǵʰ- (“to move, carry”), also behind véhicule and English way; the Petit Robert names a root Proto-Indo-European *wei- (“to go”).^[2][8] The phrase via rupta gave route.^[2] The learned via is its doublet; the word has no connection with voir.^[1]

Cognate with Italian via, Old Occitan via, Catalan via, Spanish vía and Portuguese via.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) has veie for the way one follows to go somewhere, as in Entre en sa veie, si s'est acheminez “he set out on his way”, and for a road.^[4][10]

Semantic evolution

Old phrases such as en la veie se metre “to set out” (1140) and se mettre en voie (La Fontaine, 1665) have disappeared.^[4][2] From the 12th century the word took the figurative sense of Latin via, a course of conduct, especially in religion: the Oxford Psalter speaks of la veie des justes and of a male veie, and la voie étroite was the hard road to heaven.^[4][2] It also meant “way of proceeding” (about 1120), the source of voie de fait “assault” (1378), par la voie de and, later, mettre quelqu'un sur la voie (Corneille, 1656) and ouvrir la voie (1611).^[2][4][5]

Concrete senses multiplied with techniques: the Roman roads (voye Appia, 1510), voie publique (1690), mining galleries (1776–77), railways (voies de fer, 1828, voie ferrée), and the route of a climb (1868).^[4][11] In hunting it is the track of an animal (13th century).^[3] Voie lactée (1640) is a calque of Latin lacteus orbis; most dialects call it the chemin de Saint-Jacques.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Veie “way; road”, Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• c. 1120 – Figurative “course of conduct; way of proceeding”.^[2]
• c. 1175 – The form voie.^[2]
• 1378 – Voie de fait.^[5]
• 1510 – Voye Appia.^[4]
• 1640 – Voie lactée.^[5]
• 1656 – Mettre quelqu'un sur la voie, Corneille.^[4]
• 1690 – Voie publique, Furetière.^[4]
• 1828 – Voies de fer.^[4]
• 1830 – The derivative voyou.^[5]
• 1868 – A climbing route.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A way, route, passage leading somewhere: se frayer une voie.^[8][1]
2. A road, thoroughfare: la voie publique, voie express; a lane of a road: route à trois voies.^[8][1]
3. Voie ferrée: railway line; the track: traverser les voies.^[8][4]
4. Voie d'eau: a waterway; also a leak in a ship's hull.^[8][4]
5. (anatomy) A passage in the body: les voies respiratoires, par voie orale.^[8]
6. (figurative) A course, path in life; a means or way of proceeding: trouver sa voie, par la voie hiérarchique, en voie de guérison.^[8][1]
7. Voie de fait: an act of violence, assault.^[5][1]
8. Mettre sur la voie: to put on the right track, (hunting) the track of game.^[4][3]
9. Voie lactée: the Milky Way.^[5][1]

Word family

• voyou
• dévoyer
• fourvoyer
• envoyer
• convoyer
• contre-voie
• voyette

Related words

• via
• voyage
• route

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 371a
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF