calotte

Forms

calotte f (plural calottes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan calota, recorded in Medieval Latin texts of the 13th century (Marseille, 1253).^[2][3][4][1] The Occitan word is of obscure origin.^[2][3] One explanation makes it a diminutive in ⟨-ota⟩ of the Old French cale (“a kind of cap”), which reached the south through Franco-Provençal, where the word is widespread.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg derive the French word directly from this noun, and see in it the same word as écale (“husk of a nut”): such caps cling to the head at the top and hang down below with ribbons, as the husk of a ripe walnut comes away from the shell at the bottom while still clinging at the top.^[5][3] The GLLF traces the noun to Frankish *skala (“shell”).^[6] Littré also prefers this explanation.^[7]

Others form it from the Late Latin calautica (“a woman's headdress”), itself of obscure origin, with the ending assimilated to the diminutive suffix ⟨-otta⟩.^[2][3][4] A third view, from Corominas, borrows it from Arabic كَلُّوتَة (kallūta, “a small cap, worn alone or under a turban”).^[2][1] In these two views the Old French noun is either formed back from ⟨calotte⟩ or has a separate source in the noun for a nut's husk.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, from 1394, names a small round cap covering the top of the head.^[2][6] The BHVF considers the GLLF's date 1394 erroneous.^[8] In the 16th century Ambroise Paré advises a patient to hide a defect under un bonnet appellé calotte.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Because the skullcap was worn by priests, calotte came by an irreverent metonymy to mean the clergy (1750) and then clericalism, a use spread by the anticlericalism of the late 19th century: à bas la calotte !^[3][2][9] The Régiment de la calotte, an imaginary burlesque order of the early 18th century, handed out caps to anyone open to ridicule; its satirical pieces date from 1725, and calotte also meant a pamphlet before 1778.^[2] In familiar French it means a blow on the head or a slap, from 1756 according to the Petit Robert and the DHLF, 1808 in the TLFi (donner une calotte).^[9][3][2]

By likeness of shape it took technical senses: the vault of the sky (calotte du ciel, 1640), the top of a hemispherical vault in architecture (1690), the top of the skull in anatomy (1832), and later the calotte glaciaire of physical geography.^[2][3] In Walloon, Franco-Provençal and Norman use, and hence in Canadian French, it has meant a round peaked cap, recorded in Quebec in 1860 (calotte de baseball).^[3]

Timeline

• 1394 – First recorded, for a small round cap.^[2][4]
• 1640 – Calotte du ciel in Oudin.^[2]
• 1690 – Architecture: the top of a hemispherical vault.^[2][3]
• 1717 – The derivative calotin names a member of the Régiment de la calotte.^[3]
• 1725 – Satirical pieces of the Régiment de la calotte.^[2]
• 1750 – Used for the clergy.^[2][3]
• 1756 – A blow on the head.^[9][3]
• 1791 – The verb décalotter appears.^[3][5]
• 1808 – Calotter “to slap” appears.^[3][5]
• 1832 – Anatomy: the top of the skull.^[2][3]
• 1860 – A round cap, in Quebec.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small round skullcap covering only the top of the head, especially that of the clergy (zucchetto) or of observant Jews (kippa).^[9][2][1]
2. (derogatory, with the article) La calotte: the clergy and their supporters.^[9][6]
3. (familiar) A slap or blow on the head: Il a reçu une calotte de son grand frère.^[9][6][7]
4. The crown of a hat, the part that fits the head.^[6]
5. (anatomy) Calotte crânienne: the top of the skull.^[3][9]
6. (geometry) Calotte sphérique: the part of a sphere cut off by a plane.^[9]
7. (geography) Calotte glaciaire: an ice cap.^[3][1]
8. (Quebec) A round cap with a peak: calotte de baseball.^[3]
9. (Belgium, student slang) The cap worn by students of the Catholic universities.^[1]

Word family

• décalottage
• décalotter
• calot
• calotin
• calotter

Related words

• écale

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 l m n o p q r 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 d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c 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 d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert