ambulance French · revision 16129

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1752, Trévoux|origins=la ambulō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɑ̃.by.lɑ̃s/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''ambulance''' ''f'' (plural ambulances)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|fr|ambulant|-ance]],^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) after the older [[m|fr|hôpital ambulant|t=moving hospital]] (1762), earlier [[m|fr|hôpital ambulatoire]] (1637).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) The adjective ''ambulant'' was borrowed in 1558 from [[la|ambulāns]], the present participle of [[m|la|ambulō|t=to walk about]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It was first used in 1752, in the Trévoux dictionary, for the post of a travelling tax collector, an administrative charge that moved from place to place.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ From 1787 it became common for a moving military hospital that followed the troops in the field.^(DHLF 1992) As the army's ambulance service came to use vehicles, called ''ambulances'' from about 1864, a use prepared by ''chariot d'ambulance'' (1787) and ''voiture de l'ambulance'' (1825), the word passed to the vehicle; it entered civilian use in 1891, first for a horse-drawn and then for a motor vehicle.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) The field-hospital sense was used until about 1940.^(Petit Robert 2007) The familiar phrase ''tirer sur l'ambulance'' means to attack someone who is already in trouble.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ English took the word in 1798 for a mobile hospital; it became common in English for the vehicle during the Crimean War (1854).^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1752 – First record, for the post of a travelling official.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1787 – Used for a moving military hospital.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1798 – English borrows it for a field hospital.^(Etymonline)

+ * c. 1864 – Used for the vehicles of the army's ambulance service.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1877 – The derivative ''ambulancier'' is recorded.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1891 – Passes into civilian use, for a horse-drawn ambulance.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|vehicle]] equipped to carry sick or injured people to hospital.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(historical)'' A mobile military [[m|en|field hospital]] following the troops.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Tirer sur l'ambulance'' ''(familiar)'': to attack someone who is already in difficulty.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ambulancier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ambulant]]

+ * [[ambulatoire]]

+ * [[la|ambulo]]

+ * [[en|ambulance]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}