escalier French · revision 17147

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=1531, Comptes des bâtiments du roi (escallier)|origins=la scāla}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɛs.ka.lje/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''escalier''' ''m'' (plural escaliers)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Escallier'' (1531); Old Picard ''escaliers'' “tiers of seats” (about 1270).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|oc|escalier]], borrowed in writing, at first for the stone staircases typical of the Renaissance.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|11, 271a) The Occitan word, found as Medieval Latin “scalerium” in a charter of Montpellier (1188), comes from Late Latin [[m|la|scālārium|t=staircase]], recorded in inscriptions, the noun use of [[m|la|scālāris|t=of a staircase]], from [[m|la|scāla|t=ladder; staircase]] (see [[échelle]]).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The TLFi and Rey reject a direct borrowing from Vitruvius' plural “scalaria”, since learned borrowings turn “-aria” into “-aire”, Bloch and Wartburg, by contrast, take the Occitan word to represent Vitruvius' “scalarium”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Old French “eschalier”, from the same Latin word, did not mean a staircase; it survives in western dialects for a small ladder or a stile, and is a doublet of “escalier” (see [[échalier]]).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the royal building accounts of 1531 ''escallier'' is a flight of steps.^(TLFi) Bloch and Wartburg give 1545, in an architectural treatise describing an amphitheatre.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word spread from south to north, replacing [[degré]] in the 17th century and ''montée'' (used from the 14th to the 17th century), which survives in north-eastern dialects.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) ''Escalier dérobé'' is from 1593.^(DHLF 1992) ''L'esprit de l'escalier'' (end of the 19th century) is thinking of a reply too late, the opposite of ready wit.^(DHLF 1992) Mechanical stairs are ''escalier roulant'' or ''escalier mécanique''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) By analogy, from the 19th century it named a step-like arrangement, as in skiing, where the ''montée en escalier'' is the side-step climb (1903).^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1188 – ''Scalerium'' in a Latin charter of Montpellier.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1270 – Old Picard ''escaliers'' “tiers of seats”.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1531 – ''Escallier''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1593 – ''Escalier dérobé''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 17th century – Replaces ''degré''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * late 19th century – ''L'esprit de l'escalier''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1903 – ''En escalier'' in skiing.^(BHVF)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|staircase]], [[m|en|stairs]]: ''monter l'escalier'', ''escalier en colimaçon'', ''escalier de service''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Escalier roulant'', ''escalier mécanique'': an [[m|en|escalator]].^(Wiktionary)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # ''En escalier'': in steps, stepped.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)

+ # ''L'esprit de l'escalier'': thinking of the right retort too late.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[échelle]]

+ * [[échalier]]

+ * [[escalade]]

+ * [[la|scāla]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The plural ''les escaliers'' is commonly used for a single staircase: ''monter les escaliers quatre à quatre''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}