limousine French · revision 16006

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=1836}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /li.mu.zin/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''limousine''' ''f'' (plural limousines)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine of [[limousin]] used as a noun,^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) the adjective and noun of the province of Limousin, from Late Latin “Lemovicinium”, from the tribal name [[la|Lemovīcēs]], “warriors of the elm”, related to the Gaulish name of the elm (see [[Limoges]]).^(DHLF 1992) The cloak was so called because shepherds of the Limousin wore it.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) Guiraud, quoted by the Grand Robert, thought it unrelated to the province: a carter's cloak against the mud, from [[la|līmus|t=mud]].^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ How it came to name a car is not clear: Wartburg compared the cloak that protects from rain with the closed car (compare [[capote]] and [[capot]]); the type of body has also been credited to the engineer Charles Jeantaud (1843–1906), born in Limoges, and a horse carriage called “limousine” in the regional French of Saintonge (18th century) has been overlooked.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1836, Balzac's ''Une ténébreuse affaire'' (1841) has it for a woollen cloak worn by shepherds.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In ''La Locomotion'' (7 June 1902) it named a car whose body was fully enclosed with side windows only for the rear passengers, the driver being protected only by the roof and windscreen.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Today it is a large luxury car with a partition between the chauffeur and the rear seats.^(DHLF 1992)^(Larousse)

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+ English took the word in 1902, and in the United States it came to mean a large hired car or an airport shuttle (from 1959); French borrowed this sense back in the 1960s.^(Etymonline)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1836 – A cloak, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1841 – In Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1902 – A car, in ''La Locomotion'', English ''limousine''.^(TLFi)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1959 – American airport ''limousines''.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1960s – The American sense in French.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|limousine]], luxury car.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(dated)'' A four-door car with six windows.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(dated)'' A shepherd's or carter's cloak of coarse wool.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A Limousin (cow).^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[limousin]]

+ * [[en|limousine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}