corps French · revision 15915

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 881, Sequence of Saint Eulalia|origins=la corpus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɔʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''corps''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ [[fro|cors]] (subject and object case alike), rarely ''cor'', ''corps'' from the 12th century, the ⟨p⟩ restored after Latin.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|cors]], [[inh|la|corpus|t=body]] (genitive “corporis”).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 1212b) Rey calls the Latin word one of an obscure group, perhaps an extension of a stem “*krp-” found in Indo-Iranian;^(DHLF 1992) Littré, after Burnouf, compared Avestan “kehrpa” “body”.^(Littré 1873) The ⟨p⟩ is not pronounced; it was put back in writing to recall the Latin.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989) The learned [[corpus]] is a doublet.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|corpo]], [[pro|cors]], [[ca|cos]], [[es|cuerpo]], [[pt|corpo]] and [[ro|corp]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia'' (about 881) says of the saint ''Bel avret corps, bellezour anima'' “she had a fair body, a fairer soul”: the body as opposed to the soul.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Following Latin ''corpus'', the word named from the start the living body, especially in contrast with the soul (''corps et âme''), and the dead body (''Saint Alexis'', about 1050), where it served to avoid ''cadavre''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) By taking the whole for the part it meant the trunk (about 1100, ''Roland'') and the part of a garment covering the trunk (Wace, about 1170), whence the derivatives ''corsage'' and ''corset'';^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) by taking the part for the whole it meant “person, individual” (about 1050), as in Old French ''mes cors'' “I myself”, ''garde du corps'' (1549), ''prise de corps'' (1283), ''à son corps défendant'' (1613, ''seur son cors deffendant'', about 1220) and ''à corps perdu'' (1560, Ronsard).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(BHVF)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Cors a cors'' “at close quarters” is in the ''Couronnement de Louis'' (first half of the 12th century), and the noun ''corps à corps'' in Courteline (1888).^(TLFi)

+

+ From about 1270 (Jean de Meun's ''cors celestre'') it was used of any material object, and it became a term of anatomy (''corps estrange'', Paré, 1561), physics and chemistry (''corps simple'', 1585).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It also named the main part of a thing (the ''corps de la maison'', 13th century, ''corps de logis'', 1590, ''corps d'une lettre'' in printing, 1528) and, after classical Latin, an organised body of people: ''corps de ville'' (1304).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Corps d'armée'' dates from the 16th century.^(Etymonline) In law ''corps du délit'' (1824, ''corps de délit'', 1754) renders Latin ''corpus delicti''.^(DHLF 1992) [[en|corps]] was borrowed in 1704 from ''corps d'armée'', during Marlborough's campaigns.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 881 – ''Corps'' in the ''Sequence of Saint Eulalia''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1050 – “Corpse” and “person”, in ''Saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

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

+ * c. 1270 – ''Cors celestre'' in Jean de Meun.^(TLFi)

+ * 1304 – ''Cors de ville''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1549 – ''Garde du corps''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1560 – ''À corps perdu'' in Ronsard.^(BHVF)

+ * 1585 – ''Corps simple''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1704 – English ''corps''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1824 – ''Corps du délit'' in Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1888 – ''Un corps à corps''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|body]] (of a person or an animal): ''le corps humain'', ''les parties du corps''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A dead body, [[m|en|corpse]]: ''la levée du corps''.^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The trunk, as opposed to the limbs and head.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A person: ''un drôle de corps'', ''garde du corps'': bodyguard, ''à son corps défendant'': reluctantly, ''à corps perdu'': headlong.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # An object, substance: ''corps céleste'', ''corps étranger'', ''corps simple''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # The main part of something: ''corps de bâtiment'', the body of a text, ''(printing)'' the body size of a typeface.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Body, consistency: ''un vin qui a du corps'', ''prendre corps'': to take shape.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A body of people, a profession, ''(military)'' a [[m|en|corps]]: ''corps d'armée'', ''corps diplomatique''.^(Wiktionary)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(algebra)'' A field.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[corser]]

+ * [[corset]]

+ * [[corsé]]

+ * [[corsetier]]

+ * [[corselet]]

+ * [[arrière-corps]]

+ * [[avant-corps]]

+ * [[corsage]]

+ * [[garde-corps]]

+ * [[justaucorps]]

+ * [[anticorps]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[corpus]]

+ * [[corpulent]]

+ * [[en|corps]]

+ * [[en|corpse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}