navire French · revision 38647

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1140, Geoffroy Gaimar|origins=la nāvigium}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /na.viʁ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''navire''' ''m'' (plural navires)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|navilie]] and [[m|fro|navirie]] (both about 1100, ''Chanson de Roland'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The gender was unsettled until the 17th century, the masculine prevailing in the 16th.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|navirie|t=ship]] in a shortened form; the Old French word is an alteration of [[m|fro|navilie|t=fleet]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) [[bor|la-vul|*navilium]], an altered form of [[la|nāvigium|t=vessel; fleet; voyage]], from [[m|la|nāvigō|t=to sail]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(FEW|7, 65b) Bloch and Wartburg explain the new ending by the model of Latin nouns such as [[m|la|concilium]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Wiktionary and Littré treat the word as inherited rather than borrowed.^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The Latin noun also gave Old French [[m|fro|navoi]] and [[m|fro|navie]], with the same senses.^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The Old Occitan form [[m|pro|navili|t=fleet, ship]] is the source of [[it|naviglio]], while [[es|navío]] and [[pt|navio]] continue the Latin word directly.^(REW 1935)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In about 1140 Geoffroy Gaimar's ''Estoire des Engleis'' uses it for a [[m|en|fleet]]; the sense “ship” is found about 1160 in the ''Roman d'Eneas''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Like the Latin word, the Old French noun hovered between “fleet” and “single ship”; the collective sense declined before the 17th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) Some scholars linked the feminine ''la navire'' to the sense “fleet”.^(DHLF 1992) As “ship” it gradually replaced [[nef]].^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ''Navire de guerre'' and ''navire marchand'' are recorded by Furetière in 1690.^(TLFi) In modern French ''navire'' is reserved for a seagoing ship of some tonnage and competes with [[bateau]]; it forms compounds such as ''navire-hôpital'' (1868) and ''navire-usine'' (1932).^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1100 – ''Navilie'' “fleet” and ''navirie'' “ship” in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1140 – ''Navire'' “fleet”, in Geoffroy Gaimar.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – ''Navire'' “ship”, in the ''Roman d'Eneas''.^(TLFi)

+ * 16th century – The masculine gender becomes the usual one.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1690 – Furetière records ''navire de guerre'' and ''navire marchand''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1868 – ''Navire-hôpital''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1932 – ''Navire-usine''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|ship]], a large decked vessel for sea transport: ''navire de guerre'', a warship, ''navire marchand'', a merchant ship.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(astronomy, dated)'' ''Le Navire'': the constellation [[m|en|Argo|alt=Argo Navis]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[navire-hôpital]]

+ * [[navire-usine]]

+ * [[navire-citerne]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[naviguer]]

+ * [[nef]]

+ * [[naval]]

+ * [[la|nāvigium]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}