bruine

Forms

bruine f (plural bruines)^[1] Old French broïne (about 1130), then bruine (late 12th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin pruīna (“hoarfrost”), with its initial consonant changed under the influence of brūma (“winter, mist”) (the source of brume).^{[2][4][5][6][7]} A link with Old French brouée (“fog, fine rain”), from breu (“broth”), is set aside by Rey, since the Italian cognate can only go back to Latin and the Old French word is recorded later (1316).^[2] Meyer-Lübke likewise thinks the ⟨b⟩ comes from the word for winter.^[6]

Littré, finding the change from /p/ to /b/ hard to accept and the sense “hoarfrost” missing from the old texts, doubted the Latin origin, though he noted that Italian brina and Occitan brino (“hoarfrost”) point to the Latin word.^[8] Bloch and Wartburg answer that the sense “hoarfrost” is found in Old French and that the form pruine with that sense occurs in a psalter of 1120.^[4]

Cognate with Old Occitan bruina, besides the Italian word.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psautier de Cambridge (about 1120) has pruine in the Latin sense of hoarfrost; about 1131 the Couronnement de Louis has broïne for a thick fog: Une broïne commence à espoissier “a fog begins to thicken”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the word meant a mist or very thick fog, and Bloch and Wartburg also give the sense “hoarfrost”, which the DHLF finds only through derivatives.^[2][4] From the fog came figurative uses for confusion, trouble, a quarrel or an obscure affair: mettre en bruine “to set at odds”.^[2][8] These senses went out of use in the 16th century, and the word settled on the fine, cold rain that falls when fog condenses, first recorded by Robert Estienne in 1538.^[2][3]

In modern French it also has figurative literary uses, for a fine milky shower of light or a mist before the eyes.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Pruine “hoarfrost” in the Psautier de Cambridge.^[3][4]
• c. 1131 – Broïne “fog” in the Couronnement de Louis.^[3][2]
• late 12th century – The form bruine appears.^[2][3]
• 13th century – First record of the derivative bruineux.^[2]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne records the modern sense “drizzle”.^[3][2]
• 1551 – First record of the verb bruiner.^[4]
• 1949 – The pejorative bruinasse is used by Hervé Bazin.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fine, usually cold drizzle that comes from condensing fog.^[9][10][3]
2. (literary, figurative) A fine shower or haze, of light, colour or tears: des yeux couleur de bruine.^[9]

Word family

• bruiner
• bruineux
• bruinasse

Related words

• brume
• pruine
• Latin pruīna

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 490b
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d 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
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert