plage French · revision 16745

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1298, Livre de Marco Polo (plaje)|origins=grc πλάγιος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /plaʒ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''plage''' ''f'' (plural plages)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|it|piaggia|t=gently sloping shore; hillside]], also [[m|it|spiaggia]], [[der|grc|πλάγια|tr=plágia|t=sides, flanks]], the neuter plural of [[m|grc|πλάγιος|tr=plágios|t=oblique, sideways]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)^(REW 1935) In the Middle Ages the Italian word belonged almost only to southern Italy, as Medieval Latin [[m|la-med|plagius]] and [[m|la-med|plagia]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It became confused from the 16th century with an older word meaning “region”, borrowed (1290) from [[la|plaga|t=expanse, region]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary combines both sources.^(Wiktionary) The same Greek adjective gave [[plagiaire]].^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ Compare [[ca|platja]], [[oc|plaja]], [[es|playa]] and [[pt|praia]].^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The French version of Marco Polo (about 1298) has ''plaje'' for a gently sloping shore which ships approach with difficulty: the ships ''seuffrent moult de grans fortunes aus plajes'' “suffer great hazards on the beaches”.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873) There is only this record before 1456.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Amyot uses ''plage de mer'' for a region by the sea.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) The Encyclopédie (1765) calls it a term of geography.^(DHLF 1992) The modern sense, the flat, low part of a shore where waves break, seems to appear with Romanticism at the beginning of the 19th century, when sailors said rather ''marine''; the beach as a place to contemplate the sea is a theme of Michelet's ''La Mer''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) By the end of the century (Maupassant, 1888) it was a place for bathing, and the word was extended to lakes and rivers (1910, Gide), becoming a key word of holidays and tourism; by metonymy it is a seaside resort.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

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+ Other senses came after 1850: a clear deck of a warship (1909), the band of a record holding one recording (1962), the rear shelf of a car (''plage arrière''), and a stretch of time (''plage horaire'', 1959).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1298 – ''Plaje'', Marco Polo.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1456 – ''Plage''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1765 – A term of geography, Encyclopédie.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * Early 19th century – The modern beach.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1888 – A place for bathing, Maupassant.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1910 – The shore of a lake or river, Gide.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1959 – A stretch of time.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|beach]]: ''plage de sable, de galets'', ''aller à la plage''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A bathing place on a lake or river; a seaside resort: ''les plages bretonnes''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A band, track on a record: ''une plage d'un disque''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''Plage arrière'': the rear shelf of a car.^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A range, stretch: ''plage horaire'', a time slot, ''(mathematics)'' a range.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[plagiste]]

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[plagiaire]]

+ * [[it|piaggia]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ The older ''plage'' “region, country” (1290), from Latin ''plaga'', has a numbered entry of its own in the TLFi and the Petit Robert; it survives only in poetry, as in Lamartine's ''des plages inconnues''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}