berle

Forms

berle f (plural berles)^[1] Old French belle (13th century), an isolated spelling comparable with Norman dialect bêle;^[2][3] berle from about 1465.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin berula (“a kind of cress”), recorded in the 5th century in Marcellus Empiricus, who glosses it with a Greek name for a kind of cress.^{[2][4][3][5][6]} The present form (about 1465) is a remaking of the 13th-century belle.^[3][2] Wiktionary treats the word as inherited.^[1]

The Late Latin word is of Gaulish origin,^[2][7][5] from Gaulish berulā, a diminutive of beru;^[1] the DHLF and Bloch and Wartburg compare Welsh berwr (“watercress”).^[3][4] The same etymon gave Old Occitan berla and Spanish berro (“watercress”).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as belle in the 13th-century fabliau Du Prestre et d'Alison by Guillaume le Normand: Un jor portoit en ses braz belle, Et cresson cuilli en fontaine “one day she carried berle in her arms, and cress picked at a spring”.^[2] The Anglo-Norman berle of the later 13th century named brooklime.^[8]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century Ambroise Paré and Olivier de Serres prescribed berle, often beside cress, in poultices and remedies,^[9] and it was long regarded as an antiscorbutique.^[9][5] In its first sense the word gave way to cresson, but many dialects still use it for various plants eaten in salads or growing in wet ground.^[4][3]

Timeline

• 13th century – Belle appears in Guillaume le Normand's fabliau.^[2][3]
• late 13th century – Anglo-Norman berle names brooklime.^[8]
• c. 1465 – The form berle is recorded in a medical and botanical glossary.^[2][7]
• 16th century – Paré and Olivier de Serres use it in remedies.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The water parsnip, a genus of umbelliferous plants of damp places, some species of which have edible leaves or roots.^[2][5][1]

Related words

• Latin berula

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. ^ a b c d Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 1, 338b
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette