bave

Forms

bave f (plural baves)^[1] Old French beve (early 14th century); the form bave appears about 1460, in Villon.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French beve, inherited from Vulgar Latin *baba, an imitative word for the babbling of small children, which goes with dribbling.^{[2][4][5][3][6]} The older form was soon replaced by the present form, remade after the verb baver.^[4][2][1] The Latin word belongs to an expressive stem ⟨bab-⟩ suggesting the movement of the lips, as in babiller and babine.^[2] The Grand Robert also mentions P. Guiraud's suggestion that links it with boue.^[3]

Cognate with Italian bava, Spanish baba and Portuguese baba.^[4][7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Littré quotes beve from Jean de Meun, beside escume and ordure, for the filth of which baptism cleanses.^[7] In the early 14th century beve is recorded both as saliva and as babble.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Though the sense “saliva” is found in the earliest texts, it took a long time to push out the first sense, babble, idle talk, which was the main one in the 15th and 16th centuries,^[2][4] as in Villon's disant mainte bonne bave.^[7] Furetière still recorded “babble” in 1690 and Trévoux in 1771, and it lives on in the derivatives bavard and bavarder.^[2][4]

The word extended to the slime of snails and other molluscs (1690) and to the saliva of other animals,^[2] and to the silk fibres the silkworm spins before its cocoon.^[7][8] Probably through phrases such as bave de crapaud, it has been used since 1840 for spiteful, slanderous talk.^[2][8]

Timeline

• Early 14th century – The Old French form beve is recorded.^[2][3]
• c. 1460 – The form bave appears, in Villon.^[3][2]
• 15th–16th centuries – The sense “babble, idle talk” is the main one.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the slime of molluscs and still the sense “babble”.^[2]
• 1771 – Trévoux still records “babble”.^[2]
• 1840 – Figurative use for venomous, slanderous talk.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Drool, slobber: thick saliva running from the mouth of a person or the mouth of an animal; also the foam produced in some illnesses, such as rabies or epilepsy.^[9][8][1]
2. (figurative) Spiteful or slanderous talk.^[9][8]
3. The slime produced by certain molluscs: la bave de l'escargot.^[9][8]
4. (sericulture) The mass of fine threads the silkworm spins round itself before making its cocoon.^[8][7]

Word family

• baver
• bavette
• baveux
• bavocher
• bavure
• bavard
• bavarder

Related words

• babiller
• babine

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 194a
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert