wagon

Forms

wagon m (plural wagons)^[1] Also written vagon from 1826, a spelling still found in 1892.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English wagon, also spelled ⟨waggon⟩, first a four-wheeled vehicle for heavy loads (1523), then in the 17th century a covered goods or passenger vehicle and a cart for ore, and in the 18th century an open car running on rails.^[2][3] The English word is from Dutch wagen (“cart, carriage”);^[2][4][3] Wiktionary gives the Middle Dutch form wagen.^[1] Rey groups the Dutch word with Old Norse vagn and German Wagen in a Germanic family that shares an Indo-European root with Latin vehiculum and via.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found, as waggon “cart”, in an account of England by Misson de Valbourg (1698).^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The word came into French through mining, for a cart carrying coal (1780).^[3][6][4] It was then applied to the cars of the railway from Saint-Étienne to Lyon, first as vagon (1826), then as wagon (1827), and replaced chariot, the official term of the Saint-Étienne–Andrézieux line until 1826.^[2][3] English came to use car for what French calls wagon.^[6][2]

For passenger cars the word has given ground since about 1960 to voiture, and it is now technically limited to goods vehicles.^[3][4][6] By metonymy it means the contents of a wagon (1881),^[2][3] and in slang it was a large glass of wine (1866).^[2] Familiarly it is also a big car,^[4][3] and accrocher son wagon (1933) means to catch up with the leading group.^[3] Compounds such as wagon-lit and wagon-restaurant date from the 19th century.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 1698 – Waggon “cart” appears in an account of England.^[2][3]
• 1780 – It is used for a coal cart.^[5][6]
• 1826 – Vagon is used of a railway car on the Saint-Étienne–Lyon line.^[2][3]
• 1827 – The spelling wagon appears in the records of the Saint-Étienne–Andrézieux line.^[2]
• 1866 – Delvau records it in slang for a large glass of wine.^[2]
• 1872 – Littré records it for a section of chimney flue.^[2][7]
• 1881 – It means the contents of a wagon.^[2][3]
• 1933 – Accrocher son wagon is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A railway wagon or goods van, drawn by a locomotive: wagon de marchandises, wagon à bestiaux.^[4][5]
2. (common use) A railway carriage for passengers, technically called voiture.^[4][3]
3. The contents of a wagon, a wagonload.^[4][2]
4. (familiar) A big car.^[4][3]
5. (figurative, familiar) Accrocher son wagon: to catch up with the leaders.^[3]
6. A section of brick chimney flue.^[7][2]

Word family

• wagonnet
• wagonnier
• wagon-lit
• wagon-restaurant

Related words

• voiture
• English wagon

Usage notes

In France and Switzerland the word is usually pronounced with /v/, in Belgium with /w/.^[1][4]

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 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette