côte

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kot/^[1]

Forms

côte f (plural côtes)^[1] Old French coste; the Académie wrote coste in 1694 and 1718, côte from 1740, the circumflex marking the lost ⟨s⟩.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French coste, inherited from Latin costa (“rib; side, flank; ridge”).^{[2][4][5][6][1][7]} The senses “slope of a hill” and “seashore” are found in Romanian, Italian, Catalan, Spanish and Portuguese too, so they must already have existed in Latin though they are not recorded there, Rey compares the metaphor in flanc.^[6][4][5] The origin of “costa” is unknown; Old Church Slavonic кость (kostĭ, “bone”), related to Latin os (“bone”), has been compared.^[4][8]

Cognate with Romanian coastă, Italian costa, Occitan còsta, Catalan costa, Spanish cuesta and Portuguese costa.^[8][6] Old French “coste” “shore” gave English coast.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Roman d'Eneas (about 1160) uses coste for a rib.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Wace (1160–1170) uses it for the right or left side of the body, a sense now gone except in côte à côte “side by side” (1160–1185).^[2][4] The slope of a hill is recorded from the 12th century, especially a slope planted with vines and its wine, as in côtes-du-rhône; the seashore sense was likewise taken from late Latin, giving Côte d'Azur and nautical faire côte “to run aground”.^[4][6][5]

After Latin it named the ridges of plants, as in costes de laitues (about 1256), later the sections of a melon (1660), and in architecture the fillets between flutes (1676).^[2][4][9] In butchery a côte de bœuf is a rib of beef.^[4] Se tenir les côtes “to split one's sides laughing” and avoir les côtes en long “to be lazy” (1867) are familiar phrases.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – Coste, a rib, Roman d'Eneas.^[2]
• 1160–1170 – The side of the body, Wace.^[2]
• 1160–1185 – Coste a coste; the slope of a hill.^[2][4]
• c. 1256 – Costes de laitues.^[2]
• 1676 – A fillet in architecture, Félibien.^[2]
• 1867 – Avoir les côtes en long.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A rib: se casser une côte, côtes flottantes, on lui voit les côtes, he is skin and bone.^[8][1][3]
2. A rib of meat: côte de bœuf, côte de porc.^[4]
3. A ridge, a rib on a fruit, leaf or fabric: côtes de melon, velours à côtes.^[2][9]
4. A slope, a hill: monter la côte, démarrage en côte; a vine-covered slope and its wine: côtes-du-rhône.^[1][4]
5. The coast, the seashore: la Côte d'Azur, une côte rocheuse.^[1][4]
6. Côte à côte: side by side.^[4][1]

Word family

• côtier
• entrecôte
• coteau
• côtelé
• côtelette
• côtoyer

Related words

• accoster
• intercostal
• côté
• costaud
• Latin costa

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1245a
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF