travail French · revision 16391

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=c. 1130, Lois de Guillaume|origins=la-lat tripālium}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʁa.vaj/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''travail''' ''m'' (plural travaux or travails)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|travail]] beside the subject case ''travauz''; the plural ''travaux'' continues ''travauz''.^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|travail]], formed from the verb [[travailler]], from [[m|la-vul|*tripāliō|t=to torture]], derived from [[m|la-lat|tripālium]], also “trepalium” (582), an instrument of torture, literally “made of three stakes”, from [[m|la|trēs|t=three]] and [[m|la|pālus|t=stake]].^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|13/2, 291b)^(Wiktionary) Pierre Guiraud saw a crossing of “trepalium”, which also named a frame for shoeing oxen, with a Romance [[m|la-vul|*trabiculō]], from [[m|la|trabicula|t=small beam]].^(DHLF 1992) Littré instead derived it from Old Occitan “travar” “to fetter”, from [[la|trabs|t=beam]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The frame used by farriers to hold horses and oxen still has the name “travail” (plural “travails”), directly from the Late Latin word (about 1210).^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the ''Lois de Guillaume'' (about 1130) in the sense “trouble one takes, effort”, Wace (1130–1140) has ''traval d'enfant'', the pains of childbirth, and Gaimar (about 1140) uses it for “torment”.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Old French the word meant suffering, torment and weariness, as the verb meant “to torture, make suffer”; the sense “labour of childbirth” survives in ''femme en travail''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the mid-13th century it was used for the toil of craftsmen, and in Middle French the idea of productive effort gained over that of pain.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It named the result of an activity in 1362–1363, the quality of workmanship in 1676 (Félibien) and, from 1600, the daily work that earns a living.^(TLFi)

+

+ The plural took its own senses: heroic deeds (1611, ''les travaux d'Hercule''), research (1616), ''travaux publics'' (1727) and ''travaux forcés'' (1795, after Voltaire's ''travail forcé'', 1768).^(TLFi) In 1769 it was applied to a slow change within matter, and in physics to the work of a force (1829, Coriolis).^(TLFi)^(BHVF) ''Travail, famille, patrie'' was the motto of the Vichy French State.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1130 – “Effort, trouble taken” in the ''Lois de Guillaume''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1130–1140 – ''Traval d'enfant'' “labour pains” in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1140 – “Torment”, in Gaimar.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1210 – ''Travail'', the farrier's frame.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * Mid-13th century – The toil of a craft.^(TLFi)

+ * 1600 – Daily work as a living.^(TLFi)

+ * 1727 – ''Travaux publics''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1795 – ''Travaux forcés'' in the Penal Code.^(TLFi)

+ * 1829 – The work of a force, in Coriolis.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|work]], effort spent to produce something: ''le travail manuel''.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A job, [[m|en|employment]]; one's workplace: ''chercher du travail'', ''aller au travail''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # A piece of work and the way it is done: ''un travail soigné''.^(TLFi)

+ # ''(plural)'' Works, construction or repair: ''travaux publics''; research: ''les travaux d'un savant''.^(TLFi)

+ # Slow action or change: ''le travail du temps''.^(TLFi)

+ # ''(physics)'' The work done by a [[m|en|force]].^(BHVF)

+ # ''(medicine)'' [[m|en|labour]], the process of childbirth: ''être en travail''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(plural travails)'' A frame for holding horses or oxen while they are shod.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[travailliste]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[entraver]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}