armée French · revision 17250

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=1360, Guillaume de Machaut|origins=la arma}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /aʁ.me/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''armée''' ''f'' (plural armées)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the feminine past participle of [[armer]] used as a noun, short for “troupe armée”.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Wiktionary traces it through Anglo-Norman, where it is earlier, to [[la-med|armāta|t=armed force]], the participle of [[la|armō|t=to arm]], from [[m|la|arma|t=arms]].^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873) The same Latin participle gave [[it|armata]] and [[es|armada]], the source of French [[armada]].^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Between the 14th and the 16th century it replaced [[fro|ost]], from [[la|hostis|t=enemy]], which in the 6th century had come to mean the enemy army and then any army.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Guillaume de Machaut (1360): ''toute l'armée que l'eglise avoit ordenée'', of a crusading force.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By the 15th century it named both land forces and fleets: Froissart writes of the duke of Burgundy raising ''son armée'' in Picardy, and in the 16th century Barbarossa reaches Marseille ''avec son armée'' of 112 galleys.^(Littré 1873) ''Ost'' survived from the 16th century only as a literary word, and in Picardy and Maine as ''o'' “herd”.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Modern French distinguishes ''une armée'', a large unit or a force assembled for a campaign, from ''l'armée'', the whole military force of a state, ''armée de terre'', ''de mer'' and ''de l'air'' are its branches.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) Figuratively it is a host of people united in a cause, as the ''Armée du Salut''.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1360 – First record, Guillaume de Machaut.^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 14th–16th century – It replaces ''ost''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1812 – The ''Grande Armée'' of Napoleon.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # An [[m|en|army]], a large body of troops: ''lever une armée'', ''armée d'occupation''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''L'armée'': the armed forces of a state: ''être dans l'armée'', ''armée de terre'', ''de l'air''.^(Wiktionary)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # A large unit made up of several army corps: ''corps d'armée''.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(figurative)'' A [[m|en|host]], crowd: ''une armée de fourmis'', ''l'Armée du Salut'', the Salvation Army.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[armer]]

+ * [[arme]]

+ * [[armada]]

+ * [[armement]]

+ * [[la|armō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}