fracas French · revision 16130

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=back-formation, borrowing|attested=1475, Chroniques des chanoines de Neuchâtel|origins=it fracassare}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fʁa.ka/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /fʁa.kɑ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fracas''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The TLFi takes it as a back-formation from the verb [[fracasser]], like [[tracas]] beside [[tracasser]], rather than a loan of Italian ''fracasso'';^(TLFi) Scheler and Littré also derived it from the verb.^(Scheler 1888)^(Littré 1873) Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert, the GLLF and Hatzfeld treat it as [[bor|it|fracasso|t=crash, uproar]], itself derived from [[m|it|fracassare|t=to smash]], and Rey leaves both possibilities open.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Hatzfeld & Darmesteter 1890)^(DHLF 1992) The verb ''fracasser'' was borrowed in 1475 from the Italian verb, recorded from the late 13th century, which was probably formed by crossing [[la|frangō|t=to break]] with [[m|la|quassō|t=to shake, shatter]], the frequentative of [[m|la|quatiō|t=to shake]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The GLLF and Hatzfeld date the first record to 1475, ''ce train et fracas'' in the chronicles of the canons of Neuchâtel, with the sense “action of breaking”;^(GLLF 1989)^(Hatzfeld & Darmesteter 1890) the TLFi gives Cotgrave's dictionary of 1611 as the first record, where it means both “breaking” and “great noise”.^(TLFi)^(Cotgrave 1611)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The first sense, “violent breaking”, is now dated;^(Grand Robert 2005) Brantôme in the 16th century used ''faire un fracas de navire'' for a shipwreck.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Huguet 1925)^(DHLF 1992) A 17th-century sense “brawl” has also gone, but it survives in the phrase ''avec perte et fracas'' “abruptly, unceremoniously”, found from 1898.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) The usual modern sense, the loud noise of things crashing or breaking, is recorded from 1678 in La Fontaine.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) Figuratively it meant a noisy bustle (1661, Molière) and the stir made by a person or thing that draws attention (1665), now literary; the Académie of 1694 already notes that a man may make ''un grand fracas dans le monde''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Académie 1694)

+

+ English took the word as [[en|fracas]] in 1727.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1475 – ''Fracas'' “breaking” appears in the chronicles of Neuchâtel.^(GLLF 1989)^(Hatzfeld & Darmesteter 1890)

+ * 1611 – Cotgrave glosses it “violent breaches, wracks, havoc, hurly-burly”.^(Cotgrave 1611)^(TLFi)

+ * 1661 – Molière uses it for a noisy bustle.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1665 – Quinault uses it for a stir that draws attention.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1678 – La Fontaine uses it for the noise of something crashing.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1727 – English borrows the word.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1898 – ''Avec perte et fracas'' is recorded.^(BHVF)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A loud, violent [[m|en|crash]], the noise of something breaking or colliding: ''le fracas des vagues''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A noisy [[m|en|bustle]] or [[m|en|tumult]]: ''le fracas de la rue''.^(Larousse)^(Académie 9)

+ # ''À grand fracas'': with much noise, so as to cause a [[m|en|sensation]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Avec perte et fracas'': abruptly, without ceremony.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(medicine)'' A fracture with several bone fragments and damage to the surrounding tissue.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fracasser]]

+ * [[fracassant]]

+ * [[tracas]]

+ * [[casser]]

+ * [[it|fracasso]]

+ * [[en|fracas]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}