alcôve French · revision 15623

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1646, Boisrobert|origins=ar القبة}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /al.kov/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''alcôve''' ''f'' (plural alcôves)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|es|alcoba]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) from [[ar|القبة|tr=al-qubba|t=the dome, vaulted room]], with the Arabic article [[m|ar|ال|tr=al-]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|19, 96b) The Spanish word meant a place for public weighing (1202), then a dome (1272–1284), and in the early 16th century a recess in a bedroom for the bed;^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) the Arabic had come to mean “small room next to a larger one” in the 14th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary also allows [[pt|alcova]].^(Wiktionary) The Arabic word had earlier given Old French [[m|fro|alcube]], a small tent.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ From French come [[de|Alkoven]] and [[en|alcove]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Boisrobert's ''Épître à Mme de Motteville'' (1646) speaks of finding oneself “dedans l'Alcove en la chambre privée”, in the alcove of the private chamber.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word entered French in the world of the précieuses, whose ladies received company in the alcove of their bedroom, hence ''tenir alcôve'' “to hold a salon” (1660).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) It could be masculine in the 17th century (La Fontaine), a use Littré condemned.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) Later it became the setting of love affairs: ''secrets d'alcôve'' and ''histoires d'alcôve'', recorded by Larousse in 1866.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Around Lyon it named a small back room lit through another (1796).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1202 – Spanish ''alcoba'', a public weighing place.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1646 – French ''alcôve'' (Boisrobert).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1660 – ''Tenir alcôve''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1796 – A small back room, in the Lyon region.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1866 – ''Secrets d'alcôve''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|alcove]], a recess in a bedroom for a bed.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Intimacy, love affairs: ''secrets d'alcôve''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(literary history)'' The part of a bedroom where the [[m|en|précieuse|alt=précieuses]] received company.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|alcove]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}