alouette

Forms

alouette f (plural alouettes)^[1] Old French aloete, aloeete, aloiete and aloiette; the modern form dates from the 16th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French aloete, a diminutive formed from Old French aloe (“lark”) + -ete.^[3][2][4][5] The base word, with the variants aloie and aloue, lasted until the 15th century.^[2][4] It is from Latin alauda (“lark”), which the Romans themselves considered Gaulish: they said avis galerita for the crested lark, while Pliny says that a Gaulish word was used as the name of a legion.^[2][3][4] Littré adds the witness of Suetonius and Marcellus Empiricus.^[6] Wiktionary gives the Gaulish form as *alauda.^[1]

Cognate with Italian allodola, Spanish alondra and Occitan alauzeta.^[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is aloeete at the end of the 12th century, in a quotation from Godefroy's Complément: Et l'aloeete chante quant li jors vint “and the lark sings when day came”.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The word names the same bird as aloe, with its morning song.^[2] Qualified forms name species of lark (alouette huppée, 1569, alouette des bois, 1780) and birds that only look like one (alouette de mer, 16th century).^[2]

Proverbs grew up around it: il pense que les alouettes lui tomberont toutes rôties “he does nothing” (1611), and the 15th-century si les nues cheoient les aloes sont toutes prises, taken up with alouettes by Rabelais (1534).^[2][3] Au chant de l'alouette “very early” seems more recent (1835).^[2] Larks hunted with decoys gave miroir aux alouettes, a lure that dazzles and deceives.^[2]

Other uses come from likeness: pied d'alouette is a plant (1611), nœud d'alouette a sailor's knot (1863), and alouette sans tête a veal paupiette (1962, but earlier in the regional French of the south-west).^[2][3]

Timeline

• late 12th century – First record, aloeete.^[3]
• 1534 – Rabelais uses the proverb about falling skies with alouettes.^[2]
• 16th century – The modern form alouette.^[2]
• 1569 – Alouette huppée “crested lark”.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the proverb about larks falling ready roasted, and pied d'alouette.^[3][2]
• 1694 – The Académie records terres à alouettes “sandy land”.^[3]
• 1835 – Au chant de l'alouette.^[2]
• 1962 – Alouette sans tête is recorded in cooking.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lark, a small brownish songbird that nests on the ground in fields.^[8][3][9]
2. Miroir aux alouettes: something that attracts and deceives.^[8][9][2]
3. (cooking) Alouette sans tête: a paupiette of veal.^[8][2]

Related words

• aloyau
• Latin alauda

Usage notes

Il attend que les alouettes lui tombent toutes rôties is said of someone who will not make the least effort.^[8][9] Used as an interjection, alouette humorously ends a long list, after the cumulative French-Canadian folk song Alouette.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 291b
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)