chair French · revision 16619

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=mid-11th century, Vie de saint Alexis (car)|origins=la carō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃɛʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''chair''' ''f'' (plural chairs)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''car'' (about 1050), ''char'' (about 1165), ''charn'', then ''cher'', ''chair'' is a learned spelling of the 15th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la|carō|t=flesh; meat]], accusative “carnem”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|2, 383b) The Latin word belongs to the Indo-European root [[ine-pro|*(s)ker-|t=to cut]] and must first have meant a piece of meat, from animals cut up at sacrifices and meals; from Seneca it was opposed to “animus” “mind”, and Christian Latin used it for human nature and the incarnate God.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi) [[carne]] is a doublet.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|carne]], [[oc|carn]], [[ca|carn]], [[es|carne]] and [[pt|carne]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Vie de saint Alexis'' (mid-11th century) uses ''car'' for the muscles of the human body and for the flesh of animals as food.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) a ''hume de car'' is a living human being, and the flesh is opposed to the soul; the Christian sense of human, sinful nature is in the sermons of Saint Bernard (late 12th century), and ''estre de la char de'' “to be the child of” about 1165.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ As food it named the meat of warm-blooded animals forbidden by the Church at certain times, whence ''ni chair ni poisson'' “neither fish nor fowl” (1690).^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF) When Middle French ''char'' became ''cher'' it collided with ''chère'' in ''faire bonne chère'', and, from the 17th century [[viande]] replaced it in that sense, except in phrases such as ''chair à saucisse''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Couleur de chair'' dates from 1677 and ''couleur chair'' from 1932.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * mid-11th century – ''Car'', ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

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

+ * c. 1165 – ''Char'', ''estre de la char de''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 15th century – The spelling ''chair''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1677 – ''Couleur de chair''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1690 – ''Ni chair ni poisson''.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|flesh]]: the soft tissue of the body: ''en chair et en os'', in the flesh, ''être bien en chair'', to be plump.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The flesh as opposed to the spirit; carnal desire: ''le péché de chair''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # The [[m|en|meat]] of animals: ''chair à saucisse'', ''chair à canon''; the flesh of fish or fruit.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Couleur chair'': flesh-coloured.^(BHVF)

+ # ''Ni chair ni poisson'': neither one thing nor the other.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[décharner]]

+ * [[charnel]]

+ * [[charnu]]

+ * [[acharner]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[carne]]

+ * [[viande]]

+ * [[charcutier]]

+ * [[la|carō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}