vaisseau French · revision 16884

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1120, Psautier de Cambridge|origins=la vas}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /vɛ.so/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ve.so/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''vaisseau''' ''m'' (plural vaisseaux)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|veissel]] (about 1120), [[m|fro|vaissel]] (about 1155), [[m|fro|vassel]] (about 1200, until the 15th century), ''vessiau'' (1360); ''vaisseau'' from the 14th–15th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|vaissel]], [[inh|la-lat|vāscellum|t=small vessel; cinerary urn; dishes]], a variant of classical [[m|la|vāsculum|t=small vessel]], diminutive of [[m|la|vās|t=vessel, pot]] (see [[vase]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary) Littré notes that in Late Latin the noun for a vessel could also mean a ship.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|vascello]], [[pro|vaisselh]] and [[ca|vaixell]].^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary) [[vaisselle]] “dishes” comes from the same Latin word.^(Wiktionary)^(REW 1935)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The Cambridge Psalter (about 1120) has ''veissel'' for a coffin, a sense kept in some dialects until the 18th century; the Oxford Psalter has ''vaissels de mort'' “weapons of death”, translating ''vasa mortis''.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Wace (about 1150) uses it for any vessel, especially for liquids, a sense that aged in the 17th century, when [[vase]] and later [[récipient]] replaced it; it also meant a vat or cask until Middle French.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) After Latin ''vas electionis'', ''vaissel d'election'' (about 1190) was a person chosen by God, and ''un pauvre vaisseau'' a good-for-nothing (1704).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ By likeness to a wooden cask, ''vaissel'' named the hull of a large ship (about 1195), and gradually replaced [[nef]] for a large seagoing ship, especially a warship: ''vaisseau de haut-bord'' (1671), ''vaisseau amiral'' (1680).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) It also took from ''nef'' the sense of the long interior space of a church (about 1680).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Le vaisseau de l'État'' dates from 1789 (and about 1622), ''brûler ses vaisseaux'' “to burn one's boats” from 1816, and ''vaisseau spatial'' from 1960 (''vaisseau volant'' “airship”, 1720).^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)^(TLFi) In anatomy it is a vessel carrying body fluids (1314, Mondeville), the blood vessels from Descartes (1637), and in botany a vessel carrying sap (1694).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1120 – ''Veissel'' “coffin”, in the Cambridge Psalter.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1150 – Any vessel, in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1195 – The hull of a ship.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * c. 1207 – A ship, in Villehardouin.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1314 – An anatomical vessel, in Henri de Mondeville.^(TLFi)

+ * 1637 – Blood vessels, in Descartes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1789 – ''Le vaisseau de l'État''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1816 – ''Brûler ses vaisseaux''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1960 – ''Vaisseau spatial''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A large ship, especially a warship: ''vaisseau de guerre'', ''capitaine de vaisseau''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Vaisseau spatial'': a spaceship.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(anatomy, botany)'' A [[m|en|vessel]] carrying blood, lymph or sap: ''vaisseaux sanguins''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(architecture)'' The interior space of a large building, the [[m|en|nave]] of a church.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A vessel, container for liquids.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Brûler ses vaisseaux'': to burn one's boats.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vaisselle]]

+ * [[vase]]

+ * [[vasculaire]]

+ * [[la|vāscellum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}