bateau French · revision 15644

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1138, batel (Gaimar)|origins=ang bāt}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ba.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''bateau''' ''m'' (plural bateaux)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''batel'' (to the 15th century); ''bateau'' from about 1220.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|batel]], formed with the suffix [[m|fro|-el]] on Anglo-Norman [[m|xno|bat|t=boat]] (1121–1122),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|15/1, 79b) which, like [[non|bátr]], was taken from [[ang|bāt]] (891), the ancestor of [[en|boat]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) The suffix serves less to make a diminutive than to give the monosyllable more body.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The word displaced the native [[nef]], from [[la|nāvis]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Guiraud proposed instead a stem meaning “old object”, as in [[la|batillum]];^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) Littré thought the word both Germanic and Celtic.^(Littré 1873) French passed it to [[it|battello]] and [[es|batel]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Gaimar's ''Estoire des Engleis'' (1138) uses ''batel'' for a small craft used on rivers.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From river craft the word became the general name of any floating vessel, though sailors use it chiefly for small ones.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Compounds include ''bateau à vapeur'' (1816), calqued on English ''steamboat'', and ''bateau-mouche'' (1870).^(DHLF 1992) Large, broad shoes were ''bateaux'' in slang (1841).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Monter un bateau'' “to play a hoax” (1866, earlier ''pousser un bateau'') is of uncertain origin and only influenced by this word.^(Grand Robert 2005) From it the invariable adjective ''bateau'' means trite, hackneyed: ''un sujet bateau''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 891 – Old English ''bāt''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1121–1122 – Anglo-Norman ''bat''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1138 – ''Batel'' (Gaimar).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * c. 1220 – ''Bateau''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1816 – ''Bateau à vapeur''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1866 – ''Monter un bateau'' “to hoax”.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1870 – ''Bateau-mouche''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|boat]] or ship: ''bateau à voiles'', ''bateau de pêche''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Mener quelqu'un en bateau'' ''(familiar)'': to take someone for a ride, deceive them.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(familiar, invariable)'' [[m|en|hackneyed|alt=Hackneyed]], trite: ''un sujet bateau''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[batelage]]

+ * [[batelée]]

+ * [[batelet]]

+ * [[batelier]]

+ * [[batellerie]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[nef]]

+ * [[en|boat]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ ''Monter un bateau à quelqu'un'' “to hoax someone” is sometimes treated as a separate word, of uncertain origin, perhaps related to Old French ''baastel'' “conjuror's trick” (whence [[bateleur]]).^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}