embrasser French · revision 16490

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 1100, Chanson de Roland (embracier)|origins=la bracchium}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɑ̃.bʁa.se/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''embrasser'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|embracier]], ''embrasser'' from about 1360 (Froissart).^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|embracier]], formed in Old French [[af|fr|en-|bras|-er]].^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|1, 487b) [[bras|alt=Bras]] is from [[la|bracchium|t=arm]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[pro|embrassar]] and [[it|imbracciare]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) Roland holds Oliver to his breast, ''contre son piz puis si l'ad embracet'', and Charlemagne embraces his horse's neck: to hold in one's arms.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ About 1130 it meant to seize, take on, whence the later sense of adopting a cause, a career or a religion.^(TLFi) In Montaigne (1580) it means to contain, include, and in Pascal to take in with the eye or the mind (''embrasser du regard'').^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+

+ The sense “to kiss”, without taking in one's arms, was still noted as a neologism by Hatzfeld at the end of the 19th century, and it has become the ordinary one.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Embracet'', ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1130 – “To take on”.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1360 – The spelling ''embrasser'', Froissart.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1580 – “To contain”, Montaigne.^(TLFi)

+ * Late 19th century – “To kiss”, still a neologism for Hatzfeld.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|kiss]]: ''embrasser quelqu'un sur la joue'', ''je t'embrasse'' (at the end of a letter).^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(dated)'' To [[m|en|hug]], embrace, hold in one's arms.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # To take up, adopt: ''embrasser une carrière, une religion, une cause''.^(TLFi)

+ # To include, take in: ''embrasser d'un coup d'œil''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[embrassade]]

+ * [[embrassement]]

+ * [[embrasse]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[bras]]

+ * [[baiser]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}