Etymologically
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voyager

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Pronunciation

  • /vwa.ja.ʒe/[1]

Forms

voyager[1] Middle French voyagier.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French voyage + -er.[2][1][3] The noun voyage is inherited from Latin viāticum, from via (“way, road”); in Latin it meant money for a journey, then provisions for a journey, and in the Latin of Gaul the way to be covered.[3][4] In the Middle Ages the noun mostly meant a pilgrimage or a crusade, and its modern sense appears only toward the end of the 15th century.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Eustache Deschamps (1385): or fault avoir pour voyagier grant argent “now one must have much money to travel”.[2][5] The GLLF and the Grand Robert date it to the early 15th century, in Alain Chartier.[6][7]

Semantic evolution

From the 18th century the verb took the wider sense of moving from place to place: Buffon wrote in 1749 of icebergs that “travel” into temperate regions.[2][8] Of goods it came to mean “to be transported” (1786),[2][8] and of a wine or other food “to stand the journey” (1893).[2][8] Used abstractly of ideas, it means to spread (before 1778, Voltaire).[8][6]

In the French of Lebanon and sub-Saharan Africa, il a voyagé means “he has left on a trip”.[8] About 1966 it took the sense of being under the effect of a hallucinogen, after the noun voyage used like English trip.[8] Its derivative voyageur dates from 1415.[8]

Timeline

  • 1385 – Voyagier in Eustache Deschamps.[2]
  • Early 15th century – Alain Chartier: nobles voyageoient.[9][6]
  • 1415 – The noun voyageur.[8]
  • 1749 – Buffon uses it of moving ice.[2]
  • 1786 – Le Tourneur uses it of a letter in transit.[2]
  • 1893 – Of a wine that cannot stand transport.[2]
  • c. 1966 – Of a drug experience.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To travel, make a journey: voyager en avion.[5][1]
  2. To travel widely, see the world: elle a beaucoup voyagé.[5][6]
  3. Of a commercial traveller, to go on rounds.[5]
  4. Of birds and animals, to migrate.[6][9]
  5. Of things, to be transported: ces fruits voyagent mal.[5][2]
  6. (figurative) Of ideas, to spread.[6][8]

Usage notes

Qui veut voyager loin ménage sa monture (“who would travel far spares his mount”) is a proverb.[5] The Grand Robert and Littré also list an adjective voyager, voyagère “travelling”, said chiefly of birds; it is derived from voyage too.[7][9]

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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 541b
  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. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette