écu

Forms

écu m (plural écus)^[1] Old French escut (1080), then escu (about 1140); the modern spelling écu is first found in Malherbe in the early 17th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French escut, inherited from Latin scūtum (“shield”).^[5][6][2][7] The Latin word, first for an oval shield, corresponds to Ancient Greek σκῦτος (skûtos, “leather, hide”), a word of unclear origin.^[2] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *(s)kewH- (“to cover, protect”) or to *skey- (“to cut, split”).^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan escut, Spanish escudo, Portuguese escudo and Italian scudo.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (1080) escut is a shield: Tans cops a pris sur son escut bucler “he took so many blows on his bossed shield”.^[5][8][9]

Semantic evolution

From the shield came the old senses “man-at-arms” (about 1150) and “protector” (about 1170, still in the 16th century), and the phrases porter écu “to fight” (about 1140) and rendre son écu “to admit defeat” (13th century).^[2] In heraldry (1254), as in Medieval Latin, it named the shield-shaped field bearing the charges of a coat of arms, and in the 14th century the arms themselves.^[2][4]

About 1340 it became the name of a coin, at first of gold, that bore the shield of France on one face;^[2][4][7] Bloch and Wartburg date the first such gold coins to the reign of Saint Louis.^[7] From 1641 the écu blanc or petit écu was a silver coin worth three livres, and écu came to mean money in general.^[2][7] Many phrases about money went out of use with the coin, such as avoir des écus moisis “to be rich and miserly” (1690).^[2] From 1794 the word also named a small paper size, watermarked with the coin.^[2]

English took the coin name as ecu in 1704.^[10]

Timeline

• 1080 – Escut “shield” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[5][9]
• c. 1140 – The form escu and the phrase porter écu “to fight” are recorded.^[4][2]
• 1254 – First used in heraldry.^[2]
• c. 1274 – The derivative escuchon, later écusson, is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1340 – It names a coin bearing the shield of France.^[2]
• 1641 – The silver écu blanc or petit écu of three livres.^[2][4]
• Early 17th century – Malherbe writes the modern spelling écu.^[2][3]
• 1704 – English borrows the coin name as ecu.^[10]
• 1794 – Used for a paper size.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) The shield of a medieval man-at-arms.^[4][5]
2. (heraldry) The shield-shaped field on which the charges of a coat of arms are shown, also the arms themselves.^[4][3]
3. (historical) An old coin, originally bearing the shield of France;^[4][5] écu blanc, a silver coin worth three livres.^[4][5]
4. (dated) A small format of paper.^[2][3]

Word family

• écusson
• écussonner

Related words

• écuyer
• Latin scūtum
• English ecu

Usage notes

A separate word écu, the European Currency Unit, was formed in 1978 as an acronym of the English name; it was the unit of account of the European Union, converted into euros in 1999.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 354a
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com