laisse French · revision 17531

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=back-formation|attested=1178, Roman de Renart|origins=la laxō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /lɛs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''laisse''' ''f'' (plural laisses)^(Wiktionary)

+ Also written ''lesse'' from the 13th to the 16th century;^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989) ''laisse'' in Richelet (1680).^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a deverbal noun [[der|fr|laisser|t=to let, leave]], in all its senses according to the FEW and Bloch and Wartburg: the leash is a slack cord that lets the animal go, and the epic stanza is a stretch of verse sung straight through, compare the Old French phrase meaning “in one go”; the foreshore and the droppings of game are “what is left”.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005) [[laisser|alt=Laisser]] is from [[la|laxō|t=to loosen, slacken]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Guiraud, cited by the Grand Robert, derived it rather from the Latin adjective [[m|la|laxus|t=loose, wide]].^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Roman de Renart'' (1178) has ''II. levriés tint en une laisse'', two greyhounds held on one leash.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The figurative ''mener quelqu'un en laisse'' “to lead someone by the nose” is found from the 13th century (Jean de Meun) and Marot.^(Littré 1873)^(GLLF 1989) In the 14th century it named the droppings of game (Gaston Phébus, 1387–1391), now ''laissées''.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ In the early 13th century it was a passage sung or recited without a break; the word was only Old French, called “old” by Trévoux (1752), and was revived by medievalists for the stanzas of the chansons de geste (1840, Littré 1867).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989) The strip of shore uncovered by the tide is found as a place name in 1421 in the Niort marshes, and ''laisses de basse mer'' in the ''Encyclopédie'' (1765).^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1178 – A leash, in the ''Roman de Renart''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1202 – ''Lesse'', the droppings of a wild animal.^(TLFi)

+ * 1220–1230 – A passage recited at a stretch.^(TLFi)

+ * 1421 – Land left by the sea, in a place name.^(TLFi)

+ * 1471 – A hatband.^(TLFi)

+ * 1765 – ''Laisses de basse mer'', in the ''Encyclopédie''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1867 – Littré, of the monorhyme stanza of an epic.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|leash]], [[m|en|lead]] for a dog or other animal: ''tenir un chien en laisse''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+ # ''Tenir quelqu'un en laisse'': to keep someone on a tight rein.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(literary history)'' A ''laisse'', a [[m|en|stanza]] of an Old French epic built on one assonance: ''les laisses de la Chanson de Roland''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(geography)'' The strip of shore uncovered by the tide, ''laisse de haute mer, de basse mer'', the high and low water marks.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(hunting)'' ''Les laisses'': the droppings of game.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[laisser]]

+ * [[lâcher]]

+ * [[lais]]

+ * [[la|laxō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}