voyer

Forms

voyer m (plural voyers)^[1] Old French veier and veeir; voier is found from the 12th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veier, inherited from Latin vicārius (“substitute, deputy”).^[2][3][5][1] In the imperial period the Latin word spread into administrative use;^[2] Medieval Latin used it from the 6th century for a royal official or a count's deputy in the Frankish kingdom, and in the 11th century for a lord's agent who administered justice and collected dues.^[2] In northern France it then named a justice officer with powers close to those of the prévôt, in particular the policing of roads.^[2] That duty brought the word close to voie “way”, in sense and in sound, and gave the form voier and the later meaning “road officer”.^[2][3][6] Littré derived it from a Latin adjective viārius (“of roads”), from via (“way”);^[4][5] Bloch and Wartburg call that a false etymology prompted by the road duties.^[4][5] It is a doublet of vicaire.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan veguier (“district governor”), which was borrowed into Catalan veguer.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1100 in the Chanson de Roland, as veier, for an officer who held the low and middle justice: Li reis cumandet un soen veeir Basbrun “the king commands one of his voyers, Basbrun”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “officer of justice” lasted until the 16th century.^[5][2] From the 13th century the word also named the lord who held justice over the roads (Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers, 1260) and then the officer in charge of public roads.^[2][3] From 1599 to 1626 the grand voyer was the officer in charge of the roads of the whole kingdom.^[2][8]

The word is now archaic except in administrative compounds:^[3] commissaire voyer is recorded by the Académie in 1835, and agent voyer (1836) named an official created by the law of 21 May 1836 to maintain the roads.^[2][4][5] Its derivative voirie (about 1170) first meant the office of a voyer and only later the road network.^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Veier appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• 1260 – Étienne Boileau uses voier for the lord with justice over the roads.^[2]
• 1599 – Sully is made grand voyer de France.^[2][8]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “officer in charge of roads and streets”.^[8]
• 1835 – The Académie records commissaire voyer.^[2]
• 1836 – Agent voyer is first recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A magistrate who held the low and middle justice in medieval France.^[2]
2. (historical) An officer in charge of policing the roads and streets;^[2][4][9] grand voyer, the officer over the roads of the kingdom (1599–1626).^[2][4][9]
3. In compounds and apposition: a specialist responsible for the voirie: architecte voyer, ingénieur voyer, commissaire voyer.^[2][9][4]
4. Agent voyer: an official in charge of maintaining the roads of a town or department.^[2][3]

Word family

• voirie

Related words

• vicaire
• viguier
• voie
• Latin vicārius

Usage notes

Littré also records a separate trade term, the verb voyer “to make a liquid run off”.^[4]

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 l m n o p q r s t u 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 d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert