déserter French · revision 16033

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland|origins=la dēserō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /de.zɛʁ.te/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''déserter'''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is borrowed from [[la-lat|dēsertō|alt=dēsertāre]],^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|3, 52b) formed on [[la|dēsertus|t=abandoned]], the past participle of [[la|dēserō|alt=dēserere|t=to abandon, forsake]], Medieval Latin used it for “to abandon (a country); to lay waste” (early 9th century).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Grand Robert and the GLLF derive it from French [[désert]].^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989) Compare [[it|desertare]], [[es|desertar]] and [[pro|dezertar]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) has it for laying waste, making a place uninhabited;^(TLFi) the Grand Robert and the GLLF find it about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989) ''Roncevaux'' laments ''France belle ! come es hui desertée de bons vassaus''.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 17th century it meant chiefly “to abandon a person” and “to make a place deserted”; from the late 13th century it also meant to abandon a place or a thing.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi) Richelet (1680) records the military sense, to leave the army without leave, which the Petit Robert describes as taken up again from Italian in the 17th century.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007) Figuratively one deserts a cause or a party (Baudelaire), and things desert a person (Gide).^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) ''Déserteur'' (13th century) followed the same development.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – In the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * c. 1100 – “To lay waste”, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 13th century – ''Déserteur''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * Late 13th century – “To abandon (a place)”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1680 – To desert the army, in Richelet.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|desert]], abandon (a place): ''déserter son poste'', ''village déserté''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(intransitive, military)'' To desert.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To abandon, betray (a cause, a party).^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(dated)'' To lay waste, depopulate.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[déserteur]]

+ * [[désertion]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[désert]]

+ * [[la|dēsertus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}