sabotage French · revision 16111

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1842, Académie}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sa.bɔ.taʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sabotage''' ''m'' (plural sabotages)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|saboter|-age]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) ''Saboter'' is derived from [[sabot]] “wooden shoe, clog”; it first meant to play with a top (1564), then to make a noise with one's clogs (1690).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The TLFi and the FEW suggest that its sense “to botch” may come from the old sense “to shake, knock” of Middle French [[m|frm|caboter]] (early 14th century) and Old Occitan [[m|pro|sabotar]], whence “to ill-treat” (1640).^(TLFi)^(FEW|15/2, 44a) The origin of ''sabot'' itself is uncertain: Bloch and Wartburg see in it the Poitevin [[m|fr|bot]], a form of [[botte]], altered under the influence of [[savate]], while Guiraud separates a Norman-Picard [[m|pcd|çabot|t=spinning top]] from a southern ''sabot''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first recorded in 1842, in the supplement to the Académie dictionary, for the making of clogs;^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989) the TLFi's first record is Bescherelle's dictionary of 1846.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In this sense it was soon replaced by [[saboterie]].^(DHLF 1992) As a technical term it named the notching of railway sleepers to seat the rails (1870, Littré) and the fitting of a metal shoe to a stake.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ The modern sense grew from the verb ''saboter'' “to botch, do quickly and badly”, recorded from 1808.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) In 1897 the anarchist Émile Pouget, in ''Le Père Peinard'', used ''sabotage'' for deliberately bad work as a weapon of workers against their employers; by 1909 the economist Charles Gide uses it for any material act meant to stop a service, firm or machine from working.^(TLFi) From there it was applied to military destruction and, figuratively, to the wrecking of a plan or negotiation.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ English took [[m|en|sabotage]] in 1907, after using it as a French word from 1903;^(Etymonline) Etymonline notes that the story of strikers throwing their clogs into machines is not borne out by the history of the word.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1564 – ''Saboter'' “to play with a top” is recorded.^(TLFi)

+ * 1808 – ''Saboter'' “to botch” is recorded.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1842 – ''Sabotage'' “clog-making” appears in the Académie's supplement.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1870 – Littré records the notching of railway sleepers.^(TLFi)

+ * 1897 – Émile Pouget uses it for deliberately bad work.^(TLFi)

+ * 1903–1907 – English takes up the word.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1909 – Charles Gide uses it for an act that stops a firm or machine from working.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Deliberate [[m|en|damage]] to equipment or installations to stop them working: ''sabotage industriel''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Deliberately bad or careless work; [[m|en|botch|alt=botching]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Action intended to make an undertaking fail: ''le sabotage d'une négociation''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(technical)'' The notching of railway [[m|en|sleeper|alt=sleepers]] to seat the rails; the fitting of a shoe to a stake.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(dated)'' Clog-making.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[saboter]]

+ * [[saboteur]]

+ * [[sabot]]

+ * [[en|sabotage]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}