cardon

Forms

cardon m (plural cardons)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Old Occitan cardon, recorded in the second half of the 13th century, from Late Latin cardo (“thistle”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Wiktionary traces this form to carduus (“thistle”).^[1] It is thus a doublet of chardon, the inherited form, and of carde.^[1][3]

Earlier, Old French had cardon, the Picard form of the same word, for the head of the thistle or teasel used to card wool, since the plant served in the textile industry.^[2][3][7] Anglo-Norman also wrote the word for “thistle, teasel” as cardoun and kardun beside chardun.^[8] Bloch and Wartburg note that because the Provençal word took the sense “cardoon”, many southern dialects replaced their word for the thistle with Occitan caussida, properly the ass's thistle.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the sense of the edible plant, the word is borrowed in 1507;^[3][4][5] the TLFi's first quotation for this sense is from Du Pinet's translation of Pliny's Natural History (1561).^[2] The Picard cardon for the carding thistle is found in the 12th century, in a declaration of the toll dues collected at Amiens.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Picard word belonged to the cloth trade, naming the thistle heads used to raise the nap of wool,^[2][3] while the borrowing from Provençal named a vegetable of the artichoke genus.^[3][2] De Serres lists artichaux, cardons, melons among garden fruits in the 16th century.^[9]

In modern French it is the garden plant whose fleshy leaf ribs, also called cardes, are eaten; the Petit Robert also uses it for the wild artichoke.^[10][6][11]

Timeline

• 12th century – The Picard form cardon names the teasel used for carding wool, at Amiens.^[2][3]
• 2nd half of the 13th century – Old Provençal cardo(n) is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1507 – French borrows the word for the vegetable.^[3][4][5]
• 1561 – Du Pinet's translation of Pliny uses it for the edible plant.^[2]
• 16th century – De Serres names cardons among garden produce.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus), a garden plant related to the artichoke, whose broad fleshy leaf stalks are blanched and eaten: des cardons à la moelle.^{[2][9][12][10]}
2. The wild artichoke.^[6]

Related words

• chardon
• carde
• artichaut
• Latin carduus

Usage notes

Littré has a separate headword cardon, a fishing term and one of the names of the chevrette, an edible shrimp.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 366b
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)