écume

Forms

écume f (plural écumes)^[1] Old French escume; the spelling écume dates from the 17th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French escume, inherited from Vulgar Latin *scūma, which the TLFi, the DHLF and the GLLF explain as the West Germanic word for foam, *skūm, crossed with Latin spūma (“foam, froth, slaver”).^[3][4][2] The FEW files it under the Germanic form.^[5] Wiktionary instead derives it from Frankish *skūm, from Proto-Germanic *skūmaz (“foam”), and finds no evidence for the influence of the Latin word.^[1]

The TLFi and Rey point out that the Latin word had the sense “soap” in imperial times, and suppose that the product was brought by the Germanic mercenaries of the Roman armies;^[3][4] Bloch and Wartburg likewise think that the Germanic word was first borrowed as a toilet article, “liquid soap”.^[6] Littré already set the Latin word aside because of the ⟨c⟩ of the French word.^[7]

Cognate with Italian schiuma and Old Occitan escuma, beside which the Latin word itself lives on in spuma and Spanish espuma.^[6] The Germanic word survives in German Schaum and is attested in Old High German scūm.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rey finds it first in the Bible glosses of Rashi (died 1105), meaning the whitish foam on the surface of the water, in the book of Hosea.^[4] The TLFi's first dated record, about 1160 in the Roman d'Eneas, has the sense “frothy slaver of an angry animal”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

From the foam on agitated, heated or fermenting liquids the word passed to the slaver of animals and people, which suggested anger or illness and gave avoir l'écume aux lèvres “to foam at the mouth”.^[4][3] By likeness of look it named the scum on molten metal (about 1288),^[3][4] and by likeness of colour and lightness a mineral (1546), the magnesite or meerschaum of which pipes were made from 1802.^[3][4]

In a figurative sense recorded from 1770 the word stands for the vilest part of a population, the dregs of society, a use the Petit Robert marks as dated.^[4][8] The derivative écumer gave écumeur, already used for a thief in écumeur de mer “pirate” in 1351.^[6]

Timeline

• late 11th century – Rashi's glosses use the word for the foam on water.^[4]
• c. 1160 – Escume in the Roman d'Eneas, of the slaver of an angry animal.^[3]
• early 13th century – The Reclus de Molliens uses it for foam on agitated liquids.^[3]
• c. 1288 – Escume de fier means the slag of iron.^[3]
• 1546 – Escume de mer names a mineral substance.^[3]
• 1770 – First record of the figurative sense “dregs of a population”.^[4][8]
• 1802 – It names the magnesite used for making pipes.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Foam, froth: the whitish mass of bubbles that forms on an agitated, heated or fermenting liquid, especially on the sea: l'écume des vagues.^[8][3][9]
2. Frothy slaver of a heated or angry animal, the white sweat of a horse, or the froth on the lips of a person in a rage or a fit: avoir l'écume aux lèvres.^[8][2]
3. The scum or dross floating on molten metal.^[8][2]
4. Écume de mer, or simply écume: meerschaum, a light magnesium silicate, and a pipe made of it.^[8][2]
5. (figurative, dated) The dregs of a population or society.^[8][2]

Word family

• écumer
• écumeur
• écumeux
• écumoire

Related words

• Proto-West Germanic *skūm
• Latin spūma

Usage notes

Écume printanière is the froth left on plants in spring by the larva of an insect, also called crachat de coucou.^[2][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 137a
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)