côtelette

Forms

côtelette f (plural côtelettes)^[1] Middle French costelette, costellette.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French côte + -elette, a diminutive of the word for “rib”; the Middle French form was costelette.^[2][4][5][1] côte goes back to Latin costa (“rib, side”).^[5][1] Etymonline calls it a double diminutive.^[6] Rey notes that it never had a general diminutive value: it was at once a butcher's word for a rib of pork or mutton, smaller than a rib of beef.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1393 in the Ménagier de Paris, in a menu: civé de lievres et les costellettes “jugged hare and the cutlets”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Popular speech gave the word several figurative uses: côtelettes for side whiskers (1869; the GLLF dates it to Larousse, 1866), manger des côtelettes “to be loudly applauded” (1869) and côtelette de vache for a piece of cheese (1869), all now forgotten.^[7][8] In slang pisser sa côtelette meant “to give birth” (1862), and the human ribs appear in travailler les côtelettes “to thrash” (1793).^[7]

English borrowed it in 1706 as cutlet, influenced by the unrelated English cut.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1393 – Costelette appears in the Ménagier de Paris.^[2][5]
• 1706 – English borrows the word as cutlet.^[6]
• 1793 – Travailler les côtelettes “to thrash” is recorded.^[7]
• 1862 – The slang pisser sa côtelette is recorded.^[7]
• 1869 – Côtelettes is used for side whiskers.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A chop or cutlet: a rib of a medium-sized butcher's animal, such as lamb, pork or veal, with its meat.^[9][10]
2. A boned piece of poultry or game shaped like a cutlet.^[8][10]
3. (familiar) A human rib.^[9][10]
4. (dated, popular, plural) Side whiskers.^[8][7]

Related words

• côte
• coteau
• côtelé
• entrecôte
• Latin costa
• English cutlet

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)