baïonnette French · revision 15636

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1572, bayonette}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ba.jɔ.nɛt/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''baïonnette''' ''f'' (plural baïonnettes)^(Wiktionary)

+ First written ''bayonette'' (1572) and ''bayonnette''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Académie 9)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|Bayonne|-ette]], from the name of the town of Bayonne in the Basque Country, which had arms and cutlery workshops in the 16th and 17th centuries and where the weapon was first made.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(FEW|1, 302b) D'Aubigné also speaks of a “couteau bayonnois”, a Bayonne knife.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The word is recorded from 1572 (Bloch and Wartburg: 1575; the GLLF cites Tahureau, 1555).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) Tabourot des Accords plays on “bayonnettes de Bayonne” in his ''Bigarrures''.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ At first a dagger or knife, the ''baïonnette'' became the blade fixed to the muzzle of a musket for close combat.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) By metonymy it named an infantryman (''tant de baïonnettes'' “so many men”),^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989) and in the plural armed force, after Mirabeau's famous answer to the king's envoy in 1789 that the Assembly would leave only “by the force of bayonets”.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ In the 20th century the way the blade locks onto the barrel gave ''à baïonnette'' for a push-and-twist fitting, as in a light bulb or a socket.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1572 – ''Bayonette''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1575 – The date Bloch and Wartburg give for the first record.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1789 – Mirabeau's “force des baïonnettes”.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 20th century – ''Douille, ampoule à baïonnette''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|bayonet]], a blade fixed to the end of a rifle.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''À baïonnette'': fastened by a push-and-twist catch, as a [[m|en|bayonet mount]] or light bulb.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(dated)'' An infantry soldier.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(plural)'' Armed force.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mayonnaise]]

+ * [[en|bayonet]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}