Sortir des sentiers battus – History of the expression?

‘Sortir des sentiers battus’ means to ‘go off the beaten track’ which certainly has a familiar connotation to it for English speakers. But did you know that this expression has a fairly recent origin from the 19th century. Interestingly, in 1860 we also find one of the first recorded usages of the English counterpart ‘go off the beaten track’. But even in 1630s the similar expression ‘the beaten track’ was used.

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Les mots dans la phrase ‘sortir des sentiers battus’

‘Sortire’ or ‘to go’ is clear, as is ‘battus’ (trails) but what is interesting is the word ‘battus’ which comes from the verb ‘batter’ and means ‘who has received blows’. Then if we look at the expression in its entirety, it denotes the significance of avoid or go (sortire) beyond the known ( (beaten blows / tracks in the world of hiking).