èbe

Forms

èbe m, also ebbe m^[1][2] The Académie recorded it in 1762 in the form èbe.^[2]

Etymology

Its origin is disputed.^[2][1] The FEW takes it as borrowed from Middle Dutch ebbe (“ebb”), and the Wiktionnaire also gives Middle Dutch or English as its source.^[3][2][4] The TLFi objects that the word's distribution, in Anglo-Norman and in the modern Norman dialects, points rather to a borrowing from Old English, the source of the English ebb;^[2] the Grand Robert too calls it perhaps borrowed from Anglo-Saxon, and Larousse derives it from English “ebb”.^[1][5] Scheler had already traced it to English “ebb”, comparing German Ebbe, and Körting set it beside the Dutch and German word.^[6][7]

The Old English noun is ebba (“falling of the tide, low tide”), perhaps from Proto-Germanic *af-, the source also of Dutch eb and of the Middle Dutch and German words.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record, ebbe, is in a manuscript of the early 13th century of the laws of the City of London, where it means the ebb of the tide.^[2][1] The AND dates the Anglo-Norman word, glossed “ebb-tide”, to about 1292.^[9]

Semantic evolution

In the medieval laws of England the word was paired with flot (flood tide): a delay allowed to one returning from overseas was counted as un an et un jour, et un ebbe, et un flot.^[10] The form èbe is recorded in 1282.^[1]

In modern French it is a regional word of Normandy for the falling tide.^[2][1] Victor Hugo, in L'Homme qui rit (1869), distinguished it from its near synonyms: le reflux n'est pas l'èbe, et l'èbe n'est pas le jusant (“the reflux is not the èbe, and the èbe is not the ebb”).^[2][1] It survives in the technical term porte d'èbe, the lock gate that holds the water in a dock when the sea falls outside.^[2][5]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Ebbe appears in a manuscript of the laws of the City of London.^[2][1]
• 1282 – The form èbe is recorded.^[1]
• c. 1292 – The AND's earliest Anglo-Norman record.^[9]
• 1762 – The Académie records the word as èbe.^[2]
• 1869 – Hugo uses it in L'Homme qui rit.^[2][1]
• 1900 – Quinette de Rochemont writes of portes d'èbe.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional, Normandy) The ebb, the falling tide.^[2][1][4]
2. Porte d'èbe: in a lock, the gate that keeps the water in the basin when the tide goes out.^[5][2]

Related words

• jusant
• reflux
• English ebb

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/2, 83a
4. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
5. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
6. ^ Scheler, Auguste (1888), Dictionnaire d'étymologie française d'après les résultats de la science moderne, 3rd ed., Brussels: Schepens; Paris: Vieweg
7. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
10. ^ La Curne de Sainte-Palaye, Jean-Baptiste de (1875–1882), Dictionnaire historique de l'ancien langage françois, ed. L. Favre, 10 vols., Niort: Favre