travailler French · revision 16388

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (travaillier)|origins=la tripālis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʁa.va.je/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''travailler'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''travaillier'', ''traveillier'', ''travailler'' from the 13th century.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|travaillier|t=to torment, make suffer]], [[inh|la-vul|*tripāliō|t=to torture]], formed on [[m|la-lat|tripālium]], the name of an instrument of torture, from [[m|la|tripālis|t=having three stakes]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|13/2, 288a)^(Wiktionary) Pierre Guiraud proposed a crossing with a Romance “*trabiculāre”, from [[m|la|trabēcula|t=small beam]], the rack being a frame of beams.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Cognate with [[es|trabajar]], which took the sense “to work” from French, [[pt|trabalhar]] and Old Occitan “trebalhar” “to torment”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ About 1100 the ''Chanson de Roland'' uses it for tormenting a person: ''Par tantes teres ad sun cors traveillet'' “he has wearied his body in so many lands”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Until the 16th century, and still in classical French, ''travailler'' meant “to make suffer, torment”; intransitively, “to suffer”, especially of a woman in labour (about 1165).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''Se travailler'' meant “to make great efforts” (about 1165), and ''travailler'' a material, to work it (about 1200, of flax).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ From the 16th century the idea of productive effort won: “to work for one's living” (1534), ''faire travailler'' “to employ” (1581).^(TLFi) It took over the place of [[ouvrer]], whose forms clashed with those of [[ouvrir]].^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Money ''travaille'' from 1675, and wood ''travaille'' (warps) from 1690.^(TLFi) The sense “to torment” survives faintly in ''ça le travaille'' “it bothers him”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) Slang ''travailler du chapeau'' “to be crazy” dates from 1932.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Travaillier'' “to torment” in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1165 – Of a woman in labour, ''se travailler'' “to strive”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1200 – To work a material (flax).^(TLFi)

+ * 1534 – “To work for one's living”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1552 – ''Travailleur'', a worker.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1675 – Of money earning interest.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – Of wood that warps.^(TLFi)

+ * 1932 – ''Travailler du chapeau''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|work]]: to have a job, to make an effort: ''travailler dans une banque'', ''travailler dur''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # To [[m|en|study]], practise: ''travailler son piano'', ''travailler les maths''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # To work (a material), shape: ''travailler le bois''; to polish (a style).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # Of wood, to warp; of wine, to ferment; of money, to earn interest.^(TLFi)^(Larousse)

+ # To bother, preoccupy: ''cette affaire le travaille''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''Travailler à'': to work at, strive for: ''travailler à la paix''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[travailleur]]

+ * [[retravailler]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[travail]]

+ * [[travailliste]]

+ * [[ouvrer]]

+ * [[en|travel]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}