gars French · revision 17336

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1130, Gormont et Isembart (garz)|origins=gem-pro *wrakjô}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ɡa/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ɡɑ/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Quebec): [ɡɔ]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gars''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|garz]].^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is the old nominative of [[garçon]], whose oblique case survived as the ordinary word.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) Old French [[m|fro|garz]], “garçon” is [[bor|frk|*wrakjo|t=vagrant, outcast]], found in the latinized form “waracionem” (7th century) and the personal name “Wracchio” (9th century); Bloch and Wartburg call this origin probable.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|17, 617b) The Frankish word is reconstructed from [[goh|hrechjo|t=exile; mercenary]] (modern [[de|Recke|t=warrior, hero]]), [[ang|wrecca|t=exile, wretch]] and [[dum|recke|t=banished man]], and goes back to [[gem-pro|*wrakjô]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary places Early [[la-med|garciō]] between them.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Pierre Guiraud rejected the Germanic origin and proposed a Romance “*carptio”, a doublet of [[la|carptor|t=slave who carved the meat]], from [[m|la|carpō|t=to tear]], to account also for [[it|garzone]] and [[es|garzón]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As ''garz'' it is first found about 1130 in ''Gormont et Isembart'' as an insult, “knave, wretch, coward”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Wace (1160–1174) uses it for a servant, and the ''Livre des Rois'' (about 1170) for a boy or young man.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) The GLLF dates the sense “young man” in general to Marot, about 1530.^(GLLF 1989) By 1759 it meant a strapping, resolute fellow, Balzac uses it as a familiar form of address (1835), and Frédéric Soulié has ''le gars Léon'' (1837).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)^(BHVF) The Vendée insurgents called themselves ''les gars'', and their cry was ''à moi, les gars !''.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The noun ''garce'', formed from it about 1175, became pejorative about the 16th century.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1130 – ''Garz'', an insult, in ''Gormont et Isembart''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1160–1174 – “Servant”, in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1170 – “Boy, young man”, in the ''Livre des Rois''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1175 – The derivative ''garce''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1759 – “Strapping fellow”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1835 – A familiar form of address, in Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1837 – ''Le gars Léon'', in Soulié.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(familiar)'' A [[m|en|lad]], young man; a [[m|en|guy]]: ''un brave gars'', ''un drôle de gars''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A strapping, resolute fellow: ''ça, c'est un gars !''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A son: ''notre gars est à l'armée''.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(familiar)'' As a form of address: ''salut les gars !'', ''mon petit gars''.^(Larousse)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''(dated or regional)'' Before a first name: ''le gars Ernest''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[garce]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[garçon]]

+ * [[en|wretch]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ It is pronounced [ga] or [gɑ]; the ⟨r⟩ fell silent in ordinary speech in the 16th and 17th centuries, and [gar] was already called provincial in the 19th.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) In Quebec it is pronounced [gɔ].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}