écrevisse

Forms

écrevisse f (plural écrevisses)^[1] Old French crevice (late 12th century), then escreveice (1248) and escrevise (about 1265).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French crevice, borrowed from Frankish *krebitja (“crayfish”), whose Germanic relatives are Old High German krebiz and German Krebs.^[3][4][5][6] Bloch and Wartburg give an older Frankish form *krabitja.^[4] Wiktionary takes the Frankish word as a diminutive of *krebit (“crab”), from Proto-Germanic *krabitaz.^[1]

The initial ⟨é-⟩ is an alteration of the older form that the GLLF calls poorly explained;^[4][2] Wiktionary suggests a rebracketing of the Old French plural les crevisses.^[1] Littré lists the dialect forms écréviche in Picard and grèvèse in Walloon.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as crevice at the end of the 12th century; the form escreveice appears in 1248 in records of trade between France and Flanders, for the freshwater crustacean.^[2][3][5]

Semantic evolution

The crayfish gave several phrases: rouge comme une écrevisse “very red” (1690), after the colour of a cooked one, and aller comme les écrevisses “to go backwards” (15th century, à pas d'écrevisse, 1611), from its backward swimming.^[5][2] Éplucher des écrevisses “to waste time on trifles” was used in the 17th and 18th centuries, and écrevisse cuite was Parisian slang for a cardinal at the end of the 18th.^[5]

By likeness to the jointed tail, it named a kind of armour made of horizontal articulated plates (1380), and by likeness to the claws a large pair of tongs used in forges (1842).^[5][2] In the French of Africa, écrevisse is a large freshwater prawn.^[5]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Crevice in Guiot.^[2]
• 1248 – Escreveice in records of trade with Flanders.^[3]
• c. 1265 – Escrevise in Brunet Latin's Trésor.^[3]
• 1380 – Used of a piece of jointed armour.^[5][2]
• 1611 – Aller à pas d'écrevisse “to go backwards”.^[5]
• 1690 – Rouge comme une écrevisse in Furetière.^[5][2]
• 1842 – A smith's tongs.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crayfish, a freshwater crustacean with two strong claws, prized for its flesh.^[8][3]
2. Rouge comme une écrevisse: very red, like a cooked crayfish.^[8][5]
3. Aller comme une écrevisse: to go backwards.^[8][5]
4. (historical) A piece of armour of jointed horizontal plates.^[5][2]
5. (Africa) A large freshwater prawn.^[5]

Related words

• German Krebs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 382b
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert