quai French · revision 17598

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=1311, Cartulary of Ponthieu|origins=xtg caio}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ke/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /kɛ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''quai''' ''m'' (plural quais)^(Wiktionary)

+ Picard ''kay'' (1311), ''kai'' (Froissart); ''quay'' in the 15th and 16th centuries.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|kay]], a Norman–Picard word, probably [[inh|xtg|caio|t=enclosure]], a Gaulish word recorded in a gloss.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) The Celtic languages support it: [[sga|cai|t=house]], [[cy|cae|t=hedge, field]] and [[obt|cai|t=hedge]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The word is attested indirectly from 1167 through the Medieval Latin [[m|la-med|caiagium]], a Latinized form of [[quayage]], the toll paid for using a quay.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(GLLF 1989) The central French outcome of the same Gaulish word is [[chai]], a wine store.^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A charter of Ponthieu (1311) has Picard ''kay'' for an embankment along a river.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In the 15th century Froissart's chronicle has ''au kai a Londrez'', the landing place of the port of London.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “bank of a port fitted for boats to land” is that of Froissart, about 1360 according to the GLLF.^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi) Pomey in 1671 records the stone-faced embankment of a river, and Furetière in 1690 the street running between the houses and the water.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) In Paris ''le quai d'Orsay'' came to mean the Foreign Ministry (1904) and ''le quai des Orfèvres'' the criminal police (1962).^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007) With the railways, Bescherelle in 1845 records the platform of a station, and ''être à quai'', of a ship alongside, is in Littré in 1869.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1167 – Medieval Latin ''caiagium'', the quay toll.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1311 – ''Kay'' in a Picard charter.^(TLFi)

+ * 15th century – ''Kai'' in Froissart, a harbour quay.^(TLFi)

+ * 1671 – A stone embankment of a river, in Pomey.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1690 – A riverside street, in Furetière.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1845 – A railway platform, in Bescherelle.^(TLFi)

+ * 1869 – ''Être à quai'', in Littré.^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|quay|alt=quay]], [[m|en|wharf]]: the part of a port where ships moor, load and unload: ''navire à quai''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A stone embankment along a river or canal, and the street that runs along it: ''les quais de la Seine'', ''les bouquinistes des quais''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A railway or metro [[m|en|platform]].^(Larousse)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''Le Quai d'Orsay'', ''le Quai'': the French Foreign Ministry, ''le Quai des Orfèvres'': the Paris criminal police.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[quayage]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chai]]

+ * [[en|quay]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}