avalanche French · revision 15633

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=1611, Cotgrave}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /a.va.lɑ̃ʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''avalanche''' ''f'' (plural avalanches)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Lavanche'', ''lavange'' (1572) came first;^(DHLF 1992) ''avallanche'' (1611) displaced ''avalange'' in the 19th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frp|avalanche]], a word of Savoy recorded at Fribourg in 1487,^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) which is the Alpine [[m|frp|lavantse]] reshaped after [[avaler]] “to go down” (as in [[aval]] “downstream”).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Académie 9)^(FEW|5, 101b) The Alpine word goes with [[pro|lavanca]] and the northern Italian form “lavanca”, whence [[it|valanga]];^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935) its suffix “-anca” is pre-Latin (Ligurian) and common in Alpine place names.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The stem may be linked with [[la-lat|lābīna|t=landslide]], from [[la|lābor|t=to slip]],^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) though Bloch and Wartburg think [[m|la-lat|lābīna]] took the sense “avalanche” from the Alpine word.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Proposals based on [[lave]] or [[xtg|*lausa|t=flat stone]] fit poorly.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Cotgrave's dictionary (1611) records ''avalanche'' as well as the Savoy form ''lavanche'', for a mass of snow sliding down a mountain.^(GLLF 1989)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Mountaineering and winter sports spread the word, with phrases such as ''couloir d'avalanche'' “avalanche track”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) From the mid-19th century it is used figuratively of a great mass of things arriving at once: ''une avalanche d'injures, de lettres''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1487 – Savoyard ''avalanche'' recorded at Fribourg.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1572 – French ''lavanche''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1611 – ''Avallanche'' in Cotgrave.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * mid-19th century – Figurative uses.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1927 – ''Avalancheux'' “prone to avalanches”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|avalanche]] of snow sliding down a mountainside.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A mass of stones, earth or other material falling from a height.^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A great mass or flood of things: ''une avalanche de réclamations''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[avaler]]

+ * [[en|avalanche]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}