carde

Forms

carde f (plural cardes)^[1] The spelling quarde is recorded in 1366.^[2] Anglo-Norman had carde and karde.^[3]

Etymology

It is a word of the northern dialects, Picard in origin, first recorded in the 13th century.^[2][4][5][6] The TLFi and the DHLF give two explanations: either it continues from Vulgar Latin *carda, a collective neuter plural formed on Latin carduus (“thistle”) and later taken as a feminine singular, the tool being made of several thistle heads, or it was formed from the verb carder.^[2][4][7][6] The Picard origin is borne out by where the first records come from and by the importance of cloth-making in medieval Flanders.^[2][4] Both reject a borrowing from Provençal carda (“thistle”), a deverbal of cardar (“to card”), on historical and geographical grounds, and likewise a borrowing from Italian cardo (“teasel, card, cardoon”).^[2][4] Littré and Wiktionary instead derive it from Medieval Latin cardō (“a card for wool”), from the same Latin word.^[8][1]

The sense “cardoon, edible leaf rib”, found from 1536 in Rabelais, is according to Bloch and Wartburg, the GLLF and the DHLF a related homonym borrowed from Provençal cardo, which goes back to the same Latin word through the same Gallo-Romance form; the DHLF notes that the Provençal word is itself recorded only since Mistral.^[5][9][4] Littré, by contrast, regards the vegetable and the tool as one and the same word.^[8] Compare Spanish carda (“teasel, card”).^[5] It is a doublet of chardon and cardon.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in a 13th-century toll tariff, uses it for the head of a thistle used to card wool.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The meaning followed the techniques of combing textile fibres.^[4] For a long time the word named the spiny head of the teasel used for this work, a sense still found in 1601 in Olivier de Serres;^[2][4] from 1366 it also named a carder's comb, the brush set with bent metal teeth that is still so called; since 1835 it has also named a carding machine.^[2][4]

The sense of the edible rib of the leaves of chard or of the cardoon dates from 1536, and by metonymy the word also named the plant, the chard itself.^[4] English took this sense as chard in the 1650s.^[10]

Timeline

• 1221 – Earliest Anglo-Norman record of carde for a card used on fibres or cloth.^[3]
• 13th century – First recorded in French, in a toll tariff, for a thistle head used in carding.^[2][4]
• 1366 – Quarde names a carder's comb.^[2]
• 1536 – Rabelais uses carde for the edible rib of the cardoon.^[4][5]
• 1601 – Olivier de Serres still uses it for the plant whose heads served to full cloth.^[2]
• 1650s – English borrows the word as chard.^[10]
• 1835 – The Académie records the sense “carding machine”.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A card, a hand tool: a brush set with bent metal teeth for carding wool by hand.^[2][11]
2. A carding machine with toothed drums, used in spinning mills for wool or cotton.^[11][9]
3. The spiny head of the teasel or fuller's thistle, formerly used to card wool and raise the nap of cloth.^[2][9]
4. A comb used by a wigmaker to disentangle hair.^[2]
5. (cooking) The edible leaf rib of the cardoon or of chard: des cardes de blette.^[11][9][1]
6. The plant chard itself.^[4]

Word family

• carder

Related words

• chardon
• cardon
• cardère
• Latin carduus

Usage notes

The GLLF gives the vegetable sense a headword of its own (carde 2), whereas the Petit Robert, the Grand Robert and Littré treat the tool and the vegetable under one word.^{[9][11][6][8]}

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert