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Store, a word that has changed meaning

8/19/2021, 10:07:39 AM


What definition of "store" is given in our first dictionaries? A meaning very far from that of today ...

"Place where we stock up on goods, food, ammunition."

Would Furetière have borrowed this definition from a war story?

Not.

Until the 19th century, the time was, in fact, neither for Printemps nor for the Bazar de l'Hotel-de-Ville.

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What is the origin of the word store?

Originally the maguesin - spelled store in the 15th century - is borrowed from

Mahazin

Arabic

, plural of

Mahzan

.

He qualifies the “

warehouse

”.

As such, it is used to store a lot of goods.

What Montaigne nicely portrayed to describe "

the store of memory

 ".

In the 16th century, when

we

“go

shopping

”, in reality “

we put in reserve

”.

Books, canvas, wheat, salt… Everything lends itself to it.

As Richelet wrote in his

Dictionnaire françois

in 1680: “

It is a place where we keep a large number of things of the same, or of different kinds.

"

From the 17th century, there is what is known as an “

in-store merchant

”.

If he doesn't run a store yet, he is at least responsible for wholesaling products.

So we go

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