berline French · revision 15786

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=eponym|attested=early 18th century, Saint-Simon, breline}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /bɛʁ.lin/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''berline''' ''f'' (plural berlines)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Breline'' (Saint-Simon); the Académie in 1740 still gives both pronunciations.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is derived from the name of [[Berlin]], the German city where this carriage was built and made fashionable about 1670 by an architect of the Elector of Brandenburg.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Académie 9)^(FEW|15/1, 95b)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The word appears early in the 18th century in Saint-Simon, in the form ''breline'', and was taken into the Académie's dictionary in 1718, for a covered, four-wheeled carriage with two seats facing each other.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The horse-drawn ''berline'', with glass windows and a folding hood, was the great travelling carriage of the 18th and early 19th centuries^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007); ''berline de poste'' was the post coach.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) By likeness of shape and use, from 1877 it named a wagon carrying coal in the mines, as in Zola's ''Germinal''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ Like other carriage names, it passed to the motor car: since before 1928 a ''berline'' is a closed four-door saloon car.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The 18th-century ''berlingot'' (1739), a one-seated version, was derived from the altered form ''berlingue''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1670 – The carriage becomes fashionable in Berlin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * early 18th century – ''Breline'' (Saint-Simon).^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1718 – First recorded by the Académie.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1739 – ''Berlingot'', a smaller carriage.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1877 – A coal wagon in mines.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * before 1928 – A saloon car.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A four-door [[m|en|saloon|alt=saloon car]], a [[m|en|sedan]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(historical)'' A [[m|en|berlin]], a covered four-wheeled carriage.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(mining)'' A coal [[m|en|wagon]], a tub.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[berlingot]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|berlin]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}