bleu

Pronunciation

• IPA: /blø/^[1]

Forms

bleu (feminine bleue, masculine plural bleus, feminine plural bleues)^[1] Old French blo, bloi, bloe (about 1175), blou (about 1200) and blef (about 1221); the form bleu, bleue dates from the 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French blo, borrowed from Frankish *blāo (“blue”), a Germanic word that took root only in Gallo-Romance (compare Old Occitan blau).^[4][5][2][6] Rey and Wiktionary place between them Late Latin blāvus, found in Isidore of Seville.^[2][1] The Frankish word is reconstructed from Old High German blāo (modern German blau) and goes back to Proto-Germanic *blēwaz, the source also of Dutch blauw, Old Norse blár (“dark blue, livid”) and Old English blāw.^[2][1] Rey thinks it probably related to Latin flāvus (“golden yellow”).^[2]

The old forms differ by source: “blef” is a masculine remade after the old feminine “bleve”, “blo” and “bloe” continue the primitive “blao”, and “bleu” comes from a type “*bláwu”.^[2] English blue was borrowed from French.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first sense seems to have been either “pale, whitish” or “livid, bluish”, of the complexion and of bruised skin.^[2][5] The Chanson de Roland has Sur un perron de marbre bloi se couche (“he lies down on a block of bloi marble”) and gonfanons blancs et blois et vermeilz (“white, bloi and red pennants”).^[3]

Semantic evolution

The dominant sense, the colour of the clear sky, appears about 1150.^[2][5] The older physical sense survives in être bleu de peur and in the maladie bleue (1837) of medicine; from the 17th century devenir tout bleu, later en rester bleu, meant to be dumbfounded.^[2][7] As a noun it has meant the colour since 1180–1200, a blue dye since 1577 and a bruise since 1863.^[2] Passer au bleu “to make disappear” (1877) comes from the laundry blue used to whiten linen.^[2]

In several phrases its sense is far from the sky: vin bleu is poor red wine (about 1850), un bifteck bleu is very rare (about 1950), and sang bleu is usually seen as a calque of Spanish sangre azul, the blood of Castilian families who claimed to have no Moorish or Jewish ancestry.^[2] Recent phrases include zone bleue (1957) and carte bleue.^[2] In Belgian French être bleu de quelqu'un is to be madly in love with them.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Bloi in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• c. 1150 – The colour of the clear sky.^[2][5]
• 1180–1200 – Le bleu, the colour.^[2]
• 13th century – The form bleu.^[2]
• 1577 – A blue dye.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records devenir tout bleu “to be overcome”.^[7]
• 1837 – Maladie bleue.^[2]
• 1863 – Un bleu, a bruise.^[2]
• c. 1950 – Bifteck bleu.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. blue: des yeux bleus, le ciel bleu.^[8][9]
2. (of meat) Very rare, barely cooked: un steak bleu.^[1][10]
3. Livid, bluish: bleu de froid, bleu de peur.^[2]
4. (familiar) En rester bleu: to be dumbfounded.^[7][2]
5. (Belgium) Être bleu de: to be madly in love with.^[2]
6. In set phrases: sang bleu (noble blood), fleur bleue (sentimental), conte bleu (fairy tale).^[8][10]

Noun

1. The colour blue.^[1][8]
2. A bruise.^[1][2]
3. (familiar) A raw recruit, a novice.^[1]
4. blue cheese.^[1]
5. Laundry blue, a blue dye.^[2]

Word family

• bleuâtre
• bleuet
• bleuir

Related words

• English blue
• German blau

Usage notes

A separate interjection bleu is a euphemistic alteration of Dieu used in oaths.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 s t u v w x y z 27 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 15/1, 146b
7. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse