chambre French · revision 17459

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=mid-11th century, Vie de saint Alexis (cambra)|origins=grc καμάρα}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ʃɑ̃bʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''chambre''' ''f'' (plural chambres)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''cambra'', ''cambre'' (mid-11th century), ''chambre'' (12th century); Picard ''cambe'', ''cambre''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|chambre]], [[inh|la|camera|t=vaulted roof; room]], [[bor|grc|καμάρα|tr=kamára|t=vault; covered place]], a technical word of obscure origin.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 130a)^(Wiktionary) The Latin word first meant a vaulted ceiling; in Late Latin (Cassiodorus) it meant a room, especially a bedroom, a development also found in Greek, and in Medieval Latin (1191) the place where judges sit.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|camera]], [[oc|cambra]], [[ca|cambra]], [[es|cámara]] and [[de|Kammer]]; [[caméra]] is a doublet borrowed through English.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In the mid-11th century the ''Vie de saint Alexis'' uses ''cambra'' for a room, especially the room where one sleeps.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Under the Ancien Régime ''la Chambre'' was the king's bedchamber, whence ''la musique de la chambre'' (1690) and ''musique de chambre'' (1855).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Travailler en chambre'', of a craftsman working at home, dates from 1303, and ''valet de chambre'' from 1669.^(TLFi) In Switzerland, Belgium and Quebec ''chambre'' can still name other rooms of a house.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ From 1388 the word named a section of a court, whence ''chambre de justice'' (1680), and later assemblies: ''Chambre des communes'' (1789), ''Chambre des députés'' (1814), ''chambre de commerce'' (1631).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) It also came to mean an enclosed space or cavity: the chamber of a gun (1414), ''chambre noire'' in optics, the chambers of the eye (Descartes, 1637) and the inner tube of a tyre (''chambre à air'', Michelin, 1891).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Mid-11th century – ''Cambra'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1303 – ''En chambre'', of a craftsman working at home.^(TLFi)

+ * 1388 – A chamber of a court, in Picard.^(TLFi)

+ * 1414 – The chamber of a gun.^(TLFi)

+ * 1631 – ''Chambre de commerce''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1637 – ''Chambre de l'œil'' in Descartes.^(TLFi)

+ * 1814 – ''Chambre des députés''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1891 – ''Chambre à air''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|bedroom]]: ''chambre à coucher'', ''chambre d'amis''; a hotel room.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(dated, regional)'' A room of a house.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A legislative or judicial [[m|en|chamber]]: ''la Chambre des députés''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # A professional body: ''chambre de commerce''.^(Larousse)

+ # An enclosed space or cavity: ''chambre froide'', ''chambre à air'', ''chambre noire''.^(TLFi)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Musique de chambre'': chamber music.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[arrière-chambre]]

+ * [[chambrée]]

+ * [[chambrette]]

+ * [[chambrer]]

+ * [[chambrière]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[antichambre]]

+ * [[camarade]]

+ * [[caméra]]

+ * [[la|camera]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}