départ French · revision 17176

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=1213, Faits des Romains}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /de.paʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''départ''' ''m'' (plural départs)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a deverbal noun [[der|fr|départir]], which in Old French meant “to go away, leave”.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)^(Larousse) Littré points out that “départ” properly meant a sharing out, the first sense of “départir”, and that Old French said “departie” for the act of leaving.^(Littré 1873) The noun of separation, as in “faire le départ”, comes from “départir” in the sense “to share out”, and the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give it a separate entry.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Faits des Romains'' (1213) use it for the act of leaving.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) The sense “separation” is found in Gautier de Cambrai's ''Barlaam et Josaphat'' (1220–25).^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Être sur son départ'' is in Richelet (1680) and ''le point de départ'' in Dusaulx (1796); Flaubert has ''au départ'' (1845).^(TLFi) In 1793 Madame de Staël used it for leaving a post (''votre départ du ministère''), and in 1854 Delacroix for the start of an undertaking.^(TLFi) Railways gave the ''salle de départ'' (Zola, 1890), and sport the start of a race.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ In the 16th century the older sense of sorting and separating was still alive (Rabelais); in chemistry ''départ'' was the separation of gold from silver, and ''faire le départ de'' “to tell apart” is recorded by Boiste in 1819.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1213 – The act of leaving, ''Faits des Romains''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1220–25 – A separation.^(TLFi)

+ * 1680 – ''Être sur son départ'', Richelet.^(TLFi)

+ * 1793 – Leaving a post, Madame de Staël.^(TLFi)

+ * 1796 – ''Le point de départ''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1819 – ''Faire le départ de''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1854 – A beginning, Delacroix.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|departure]], the act or time of leaving: ''le départ du train'', ''être sur le départ''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # Leaving a post or organization: ''son départ à la retraite''.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # The [[m|en|start]] of a race: ''donner le départ'', ''faux départ''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ # The beginning of something: ''au départ'', ''point de départ''.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(formal)'' ''Faire le départ entre'': to distinguish clearly between.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[départir]]

+ * [[partir]]

+ * [[partager]]

+ * [[départager]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}