échine

Forms

échine f (plural échines)^[1] Old French eschine; the modern spelling échine is recorded in 1655, in Bonnefons.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French eschine, borrowed from Frankish *skina (“stick of wood”), reconstructed from Old High German scina, which meant both “shinbone” and “needle”, and German Schienbein (“shinbone”) and Schiene (“splint, rail”).^[4][5][3] The shinbone was named after its shape, and the same comparison gave the Old French word the sense “spine”, as in épine dorsale and Latin spīna (“thorn, spine”).^[4][5]

Cognate with Old Occitan esquina (“spine, back”), Italian schiena and Spanish esquina.^[5] Littré, following Diez, rejected a source in Latin on phonetic grounds; he also considered a Celtic source, comparing Breton kein (“back”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as eschine in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), meaning the spinal column: Toute l'eschine li desevret del dos, “he severs his whole spine from his back”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

From the 11th century the word named the spine of humans and some animals; it was more common in the classical language than it is today, and, from the middle of the 16th century it is used above all for a cut of pork loin.^[3] The sense “needle” had not died out, since Rabelais uses échine so in 1546.^[3][7]

From the 17th century the word entered figurative and familiar phrases, now obsolete or archaic: ajuster l'échine “to give a beating” (1669, Molière) and frotter l'échine (1678).^[4][3] The idea of servility appears in phrases recorded from 1845, courber or plier l'échine “to submit” and avoir l'échine souple “to be obsequious”.^[4][3][6]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Eschine appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[4][6]
• c. 1131 – The derivative eschinée is recorded.^[3]
• c. 1225 – The verb eschiner “to injure” is recorded.^[3]
• 1546 – Rabelais uses it for “needle”.^[3][7]
• Mid-16th century – It names a cut of pork.^[3][2]
• 1655 – The spelling échine appears in Bonnefons.^[2]
• 1669 – Molière writes ajuster l'échine “to give a beating”.^[4]
• 1845 – Plier and courber l'échine “to submit” are recorded.^[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The spine or backbone of a human or an animal, and the part of the back along it.^[8][4][6]
2. Courber or plier l'échine: to submit or give in, avoir l'échine souple: to be obsequious.^[8][6][3]
3. (butchery) The front part of a pork loin: une échine de porc rôtie.^[8][3]

Word family

• échiner
• échinée

Related words

• épine
• Frankish *skina

Usage notes

A separate word échine (the Grand Robert's 2. échine), recorded from 1567, is an architectural term for the projecting moulding under the abacus of a Doric capital; it is borrowed from Latin echīnus, from Ancient Greek ἐχῖνος (ekhînos, “hedgehog, sea urchin”).^[7][3][8]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert