car French · revision 17470

+ French has separately a conjunction ''car'' “for, because”, from Latin, and a noun ''car'' “coach”, shortened from ''autocar'', from English.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

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+ {{homograph|1|for, because}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=10th century, Sermon sur Jonas|origins=la quārē}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kaʁ/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''car'''^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''car'', ''quar'' and ''quer'', from the unstressed and stressed forms of the Latin word.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The conjunction is [[inh|fro|car]], [[inh|la|quārē|t=why?; therefore]], literally “by which thing”, from [[m|la|quā]] and [[m|la|rē]], the ablatives of [[m|la|quī]] and [[m|la|rēs|t=thing]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 1421a)^(Wiktionary) Latin “quārē” was an interrogative and a causal adverb; its use as a conjunction of cause is already found in Pompeian inscriptions before 79 AD, and in popular Latin it displaced [[m|la|nam]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ Cognate with [[pro|car]] and [[ca|car]].^(Littré 1873)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in the 10th-century Sermon on Jonah.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) In the ''Chanson de Roland'' (about 1100) it is also a particle urging an order: ''Franc chevalier, car m'eslisez baron'' “Frankish knights, choose me a baron then”.^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old French used it as a causal adverb, “therefore” (until the 16th century), as a particle with the imperative and the subjunctive of wishing, and as a conjunction of subordination, “because” (1167–70), later replaced by ''parce que''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Only the coordinating use, giving the reason for what precedes, has survived.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ In the 17th century Malherbe and other purists attacked ''car'' as old-fashioned, Voiture defended it in a famous letter, asking why one should say in three words (''pour ce que'') what one can say in three letters.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) The noun phrase ''sans si et sans car'' “without conditions” dates from 1616–20.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 10th century – ''Car'' in the Sermon on Jonah.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1050 – ''Quer'', ''quar'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1167–1170 – ''Car'' “because”, subordinating, in Gautier d'Arras.^(TLFi)

+ * 16th century – The adverbial sense “therefore” dies out.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 17th century – The “car quarrel”: Malherbe against, Voiture for.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Conjunction===

+ # For, [[m|en|because]], since: introduces the reason for what has just been said: ''méfie-toi, car il est dangereux''.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(noun)'' ''Les si et les car'': objections, quibbles.^(Petit Robert 2007)

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+ {{homograph|2|coach}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=clipping|attested=1928, Larousse du XXe siècle; 1873 (tramcar)|origins=fro car}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kaʁ/^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Forms==

+ '''car''' ''m'' (plural cars)^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The coach is a clipping of [[autocar]] (1907–1910), [[bor|en|autocar]], formed with [[m|en|car]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) An earlier “car” “tramcar”, found from 1873 in American contexts, was borrowed from [[en|car]] “vehicle on rails” (1830), itself from Anglo-Norman or Old Northern French [[xno|car]], the northern form of [[char]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|18, 39b) It is thus a doublet of “char”.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ ''Cars de tramways'' appears in Jules Verne's ''Tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours'' (1873), of San Francisco.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “tramcar” did not survive outside American contexts.^(DHLF 1992) The modern sense, a large motor vehicle carrying passengers outside towns, as opposed to the town ''autobus'', is recorded in 1928.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In African French and in Madagascar ''car'' covers various public transport vehicles (''car rapide'', ''car-brousse''), and in Switzerland the ''car postal'' carries passengers as well as mail.^(DHLF 1992) In Canada ''char'' was used to render American ''car''.^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1873 – ''Car'', a tramcar, in Jules Verne.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1907 – ''Autocar''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1912 – ''Side-car'', from English.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1928 – ''Car'', a motor coach.^(TLFi)

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+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|coach]], bus for long journeys or tours: ''un car de touristes''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''Car de police'': a police van.^(Larousse)

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+ ==Related words==

+ * [[char]]

+ * [[autocar]]

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}