Etymologically
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voiture

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:03. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vwa.tyʁ/[1]

Forms

voiture f (plural voitures)[1] Old French voiture, veiture, veicture; the Old French forms in vei- were common until the 14th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French voiture, inherited from Latin vectūra (“transport, carriage; cost of transport”), from “vectum”, the supine of vehō (“to carry”), whence also véhicule.[4][2][5][6][1]

Cognate with Italian vettura, which has the same senses as French, and Old Occitan vechura.[5][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

At the end of the 12th century Everat's Bible uses voiture for a load carried, here on a donkey.[4][3] About 1200 veiture also meant transport, and a beast of burden.[2]

Semantic evolution

Until the 18th century the word covered every means of transport by land or water, the load carried, and the cost of carriage (1345); Furetière (1690) could still say that les voitures d'Orient se font par des bœufs.[2][9] In 1283 Beaumanoir used it for a wheeled vehicle, a sense long in competition with char.[4][2][5] Lettre de voiture, a consignment note, survives in law.[10][2]

In the 19th century it came to mean a vehicle for people: a railway carriage (1829, whence en voiture !), a prison van (voiture cellulaire, 1842) and a pram (voiture d'enfant).[2][4] Cugnot's steam vehicle was a voiture à feu (1771); voiture automobile is from 1876, and plain voiture for a petrol-driven car from 1893.[4][2][11] The old phrase adieu la voiture “all is lost” is in Oudin (1640).[11]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Voiture, a load, in Everat's Bible.[4]
  • 1213 – Voiturier, a carrier.[5]
  • 1283 – A wheeled vehicle, in Beaumanoir.[4]
  • 1345 – The cost of transport.[2]
  • 1771 – Voiture à feu, Cugnot's steam vehicle.[4]
  • 1829 – A railway carriage.[4]
  • 1893 – A petrol-driven car, in a letter of Émile Mors.[4][11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A car, motor vehicle: une voiture de sport, aller en voiture.[1][12]
  2. A vehicle on wheels, drawn or pushed: voiture à cheval, voiture à bras.[10][12]
  3. A railway carriage: en voiture ![2][1]
  4. Voiture d'enfant: a pram.[12][2]
  5. (law, dated) Carriage, transport: lettre de voiture.[10]

Word family

  • covoiturage
  • voiture-balai
  • voiturer
  • voiturier

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b 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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 212b
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)