bovin

Forms

bovin (feminine bovine, masculine plural bovins, feminine plural bovines)^[1] Old French also had buevin, in one manuscript of the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin bovīnus (“of an ox”), recorded from the end of the 4th century, from bōs (“ox”).^[3][4][5][6] The plural noun goes with the scientific Latin neuter plural bovina, the name of an order of ruminants (1825).^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1121 in the Anglo-Norman Voyage de saint Brendan, where the boat is covered with quir bovin, oxhide.^[3][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective, meaning “of or relating to oxen and cattle”, was rare until the 19th century;^[3][5][4] Middle French records bestes bovines in 1355,^[8] and Godefroy notes that the feminine survived in race bovine and bêtes bovines.^[2] Taken up again in the 19th century, it acquired the figurative, pejorative sense “heavy, dull, slow-witted” (1869), of a person's looks or manner.^[4][3]

Through the scientific Latin bovina (1825), bovins became the name of a group of ruminants; in the 16th century the feminine noun bouvine had served in this use.^[4] The noun, first recorded in 1942, passed into general use for cattle.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1121 – Quir bovin “oxhide” in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[3][7]
• 1355 – Bestes bovines is recorded in a document.^[8]
• 16th century – Rabelais writes of bouches bovines and cornes bovines.^[2]
• 1869 – The figurative sense appears, in the Goncourts' Madame Gervaisais.^[3][4]
• 1942 – First record of the plural noun bovins.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to oxen and cattle, as in La région vit surtout de l'élevage bovin.^[9][10][3]
2. (figurative, pejorative) Recalling an ox: heavy, dull, without intelligence, as in Il la fixait d'un regard bovin.^[9][3][10]

Noun

1. (masculine, plural) The bovines, the subfamily of bovidés that includes oxen, yaks, bison and zebus.^[9][3]
2. (masculine) A head of cattle, as in Le troupeau compte deux cents bovins.^[4]

Related words

• bœuf
• bouvier
• bovidés
• Latin bos

Usage notes

The Petit Robert also records bovinés (1898) for the bovines.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b 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. 1, 476b
7. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse