échapper French · revision 15864

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=la-lat cappa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /e.ʃa.pe/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''échapper'''^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|escaper]], [[m|fro|eschaper]]; spelt ''échapper'' from the 16th–17th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|eschaper]], [[inh|la-vul|*excappō|alt=*excappāre]], formed with [[m|la|ex-]] on [[la-lat|cappa|t=a kind of headdress; cloak]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 268a) properly “to throw off the cowl”, or else “to slip out of one's cloak, leaving it in the pursuer's hands”;^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Väänänen and Rey prefer the second explanation.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Littré noted the parallel Old French [[m|fro|escamper]], which he derived from [[la-vul|*excampō|alt=*excampāre|t=to leave the field]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|scappare]] and [[es|escapar]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873) It is a doublet of [[escaper]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) has ''Se uns escapet, morz ies e cunfunduz'' “if a single one escapes, you are dead and undone”, the sense “to flee, get away”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ About 1140 it was said of a thing that slips from one's grasp (''se pome m'en eschapet''),^(TLFi) and the reflexive ''s'en eschaper'' is found about 1160.^(TLFi) From the late 12th century it meant to stay out of reach of a danger, and figuratively to cease to be under someone's influence.^(DHLF 1992) In Amyot (1559) words “escape” one's lips, and, from the same period a name ''m'échappe'' when memory fails;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Montaigne (1580) has things that escape notice.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''L'échapper belle'', found in 1574 and recorded by Oudin in 1640, first meant to miss a ball that could have been caught, and now means “to have a narrow escape”.^(BHVF)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The transitive use “to drop (something) unintentionally” survives regionally in France and in Quebec (''j'ai échappé une assiette'').^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Escapet'' “escapes” in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1140 – Of a thing slipping from the hand.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – Reflexive ''s'en eschaper''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1559 – Words escaping one's mouth, in Amyot.^(TLFi)

+ * 1574 – ''L'avoir eschappé belle''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1752 – ''Échappement'' in clockmaking.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1880 – ''S'échapper'' in cycling.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''Échapper à'': to [[m|en|escape]] or avoid (a danger, a pursuer, a punishment): ''échapper à la mort''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''Échapper à'': to slip from, be beyond (someone's control, attention or memory): ''son nom m'échappe'', ''ce détail m'a échappé''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Of words or a cry, to be uttered involuntarily: ''laisser échapper un cri''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''L'échapper belle'': to have a narrow escape.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Quebec, transitive)'' To drop (something) by accident.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(reflexive)'' To escape, break out; to leak out (of gas or steam); ''(cycling)'' to break away.^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[échappatoire]]

+ * [[échappée]]

+ * [[échappement]]

+ * [[réchapper]]

+ * [[rescapé]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chape]]

+ * [[échappé]]

+ * [[escapade]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}