chocolat French · revision 15757

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1598, translation of Acosta, chocolate|origins=nah chocolātl}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃɔ.kɔ.la/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''chocolat''' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Chocolate'' (1598, still in 1740), ''chocolat'' (1634 or 1659).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|es|chocolate]] (1590^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|20, 63b); “chocollatl” about 1580),^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|20, 63b) itself from [[nah|chocolātl]], a Nahuatl word of Mexico whose formation is hard to analyse except for the ending “-atl” “water”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935) Rey suggests that Europeans may have confused it with the Mexican word for cacao, the source of [[cacao]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The 1598 French translation of José de Acosta's history of the Indies, speaking of Peru, has ''chocolate'' for a drink made from cacao beans.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Drink and word probably spread in France with the marriage of Louis XIV to the Spanish infanta.^(DHLF 1992) The form ''chocolat'' and the sense “food made of cacao and sugar” appear in letters patent of 1659; the solid chocolate later outran the drink.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Mme de Sévigné has the ''chocolatière'' (1671), and the ''chocolatier'' appears in 1694.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Un chocolat'' is a chocolate sweet (1901), and as an invariable adjective ''chocolat'' is a dark reddish-brown colour (1863).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) After the clown Chocolat, ''faire le chocolat'' was to play the dupe (1886), and ''être chocolat'' is to be let down.^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse) In south-western France a ''chocolatine'' is a ''pain au chocolat''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1580 – Spanish ''chocollatl''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1598 – ''Chocolate'', a drink.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1659 – ''Chocolat'', the food.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1671 – ''Chocolatière'' (Mme de Sévigné).^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1694 – ''Chocolatier''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1863 – A colour adjective.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1886 – ''Faire le chocolat''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1901 – ''Un chocolat'', a sweet.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|chocolate|alt=Chocolate]]: ''tablette de chocolat'', ''chocolat noir'', ''chocolat au lait''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A drink of chocolate, [[m|en|hot chocolate]].^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)

+ # A chocolate sweet: ''une boîte de chocolats''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Chocolate-coloured, dark reddish-brown.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Être chocolat'': to be let down, duped.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chocolater]]

+ * [[chocolaterie]]

+ * [[chocolatine]]

+ * [[chocolatier]]

+ * [[chocolatière]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[cacao]]

+ * [[en|chocolate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}