épeautre

Forms

épeautre m (uncountable)^[1] Old French espelte (end of the 11th century), espiautre (1209) and espiaute, Middle French espeaultre (15th century); épeautre from the middle of the 16th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French espelte, inherited from Late Latin spelta (“spelt”).^[2][4][1][5] The Latin word is of Germanic origin; the GLLF gives the West Germanic form as Proto-West Germanic *spelta.^[2][6][3] Compare Old High German spelta, spelza and Old English spelt.^[2][4] Bloch and Wartburg note that Saint Jerome recorded the Latin word in Pannonia in the 4th century.^[6]

The forms with ⟨r⟩, such as espiautre, are probably due to a second borrowing from the Germanic languages; a form without ⟨r⟩ was still in use in 1771.^[2][6]

Cognate with Italian spelta and Spanish espelta.^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rashi's glosses, at the end of the 11th century, have espelte for the grain spelt.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the sense of its Latin source, a kind of wheat whose husk clings to the grain.^[4][2] Beside it the forms piautre, then peautre, were used by metonymy for a straw mattress (about 1280), whence the figurative phrase envoyer au peautre “to dismiss roughly” (about 1485), out of use since the 19th century.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Espelte in Rashi's glosses.^[2][3]
• 1209 – Espiautre in a cartulary of Guise.^[2][4]
• c. 1280 – Piautre is used for a straw mattress.^[4]
• c. 1485 – Envoyer au peautre “to dismiss roughly” appears.^[4]
• mid-16th century – The form épeautre appears.^[3][8]
• 1771 – A form without ⟨r⟩ is still found.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. spelt, a variety of wheat whose husk clings tightly to the grain: du pain d'épeautre.^[2][9][10]
2. Petit épeautre: engrain, einkorn wheat.^[10][7]

Related words

• engrain
• Latin spelta

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d e 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 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, 177b
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)