étui

Forms

étui m (plural étuis)^[1] Old French estui,^[2][3] Middle French estuy;^[4] the spelling étui dates from the 17th century.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French estui, a deverbal noun from Old French estuier (“to keep, store”) (also estoiier), a verb of the 12th century still in use in the 16th.^[2][3][6] The origin of the verb is obscure.^[2][6] The TLFi, the FEW, Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert tentatively derive it from Vulgar Latin *studiō (“to take care of”), from Latin studium (“zeal, care”) (whence étude), a verb recorded in Medieval Latin in the sense "to look after, keep in good order" and continued in many Italian dialects.^[2][7][6][8] Pierre Guiraud instead proposed *extuicō, from tueor (“to watch over, protect”).^[3] Diez, followed by Littré, linked it with Middle High German stūche (“a kind of sheath”), and Wiktionary considers a Germanic origin more likely.^[4][1]

Compare Occitan estug, Catalan estoig, Spanish estuche, Portuguese estojo and Italian astuccio.^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1170 in the Livre des Rois in the phrase garder en estui “to put away, store”, used of weapons.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In Old French estui also meant a prison, a place where someone is kept (about 1190),^[3][5][6] and then a hollow object used as a container, the sense that lasted.^[3] From about 1550 it also meant a narrow place in which one is shut up, a sense now gone, and the figurative visage à étui (1752) was a very ugly face, one to be hidden in a case.^[3][4]

The general sense of “container” spread to many fields: the cartridge case (1836), étui à voiles in the navy (1866), the penis sheath of ethnology (20th century), and by likeness of function the sheath of an insect's sting (1865), the word having earlier meant an insect's wing case.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Garder en estui “to store” appears in the Livre des Rois.^[2][5]
• c. 1190 – Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence uses it for a prison.^[5]
• c. 1550 – It is used of a narrow place where one is shut in.^[3]
• 17th century – The spelling étui appears.^[5]
• 1752 – Visage à étui “very ugly face” is recorded.^[3]
• 1836 – It is used of a cartridge case.^[3]
• 1865 – It names the sheath of an insect's sting.^[3]
• 1866 – Étui à voiles is recorded in the navy.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A case, usually rigid, shaped to hold and protect a particular object: étui à lunettes, étui à violon.^[9][2][1]
2. The holster of a gun or the sheath of a blade.^[9][1]
3. A cartridge case: étui de cartouche.^[9][1]
4. (entomology) The elytra of a beetle; the sheath of an insect's sting.^[10][3]
5. (ethnology) Étui pénien: a penis sheath.^[9][3]
6. (dated) Étui de mathématiques: a box of drawing and mathematical instruments.^[2][4]

Related words

• étude
• Latin studium

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 310b
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org