chauffeur French · revision 16113

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1455, Jean Prieur|origins=la calefaciō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃo.fœʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''chauffeur''' ''m'' (plural chauffeurs, feminine chauffeuse or chauffeure)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|chauffer|-eur]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) ''Chauffer'' “to heat” comes from [[la-vul|*calefō]], from classical [[la|calefaciō|t=to make warm]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The revised TLF etymology finds an isolated record in 1455, in Jean Prieur, where Lucifer makes a devil ''premier chauffeur de la chaudiere'', the stoker of the cauldrons of hell; the word reappears from 1573 in Plantin's dictionary.^(TLF-Étym) Richelet (1680), long given as the first record, defines it as the man who works the bellows of a forge to make the metal red-hot.^(TLFi)^(TLF-Étym)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ With the steam engine it named the stoker of a boiler (1825) and, in railway use, the fireman of a locomotive, the driver's assistant (1834).^(TLF-Étym)^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Although the two jobs differ, the word slid to the sense “driver of a motor car” in 1896, when early cars were often steam-driven; a feminine ''chauffeuse'' appears in 1898, and the pejorative ''chauffard'' “road hog” in 1897.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992)^(Etymonline) The sense of a paid driver came later.^(GLLF 1989)^(Etymonline)

+

+ From the original sense “one who heats”, ''chauffeurs'' were also bandits who burned their victims' feet to make them reveal where their money was hidden; the word is found in newspapers of 1797, and the trial of the gang of Orgères recorded their slang.^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) A ''chauffeuse'' is also a low chair for sitting by the fire (1830, Balzac).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ English took [[m|en|chauffeur]] in 1896 for a motorist, and in 1902 for a paid driver of a private car.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1455 – Isolated record in Jean Prieur, for the stoker of hell's cauldrons.^(TLF-Étym)

+ * 1680 – Richelet records it for the bellows-worker of a forge.^(TLFi)

+ * 1797 – Newspapers report on the bandits called ''chauffeurs''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1834 – Used for the fireman of a locomotive.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1896 – Used for the driver of a motor car;^(TLFi)^(BHVF) English borrows it.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1897 – ''Chauffard'' is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1898 – The feminine ''chauffeuse'' is recorded.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|driver]] of a motor vehicle, especially a professional one: ''chauffeur de taxi'', ''de camion'';^(Petit Robert 2007) ''chauffeur de maître'', a private [[m|en|chauffeur]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar)'' Someone who drives another person around in their own car.^(Larousse)

+ # A [[m|en|stoker]], who tends the fire of a forge, furnace or boiler; the fireman of a steam locomotive.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(historical)'' A bandit who burned victims' feet to make them reveal their hidden money.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[chauffard]]

+ * [[chauffeuse]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chauffer]]

+ * [[chaud]]

+ * [[la|calefacio]]

+ * [[en|chauffeur]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}