ceinture

Forms

ceinture f (plural ceintures)^[1] Old French ceingture (early 12th century), then ceinture (about 1175).^[2][3] Middle French also wrote çainture.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ceinture, inherited from Latin cinctūra (“girdle”),^[2][4][5][1] a rare imperial Latin derivative of cinctus (“a girding, girdle”), from the verb cingō (“to gird”), the source of ceindre.^[3][6] Rey notes that the latter was the man's girdle, as against the small woman's girdle cingillum.^[3]

Cognate with Italian cintura, Spanish cintura, Portuguese cintura and Occitan centura.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as ceingture in the Oxford Psalter (early 12th century), for a band of cloth holding a garment at the waist: sicume ceingture, de la quele tutes ores il est purceint “as a girdle with which he is always girded”.^[2][8] Chrétien de Troyes writes ceinture about 1175.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word soon named the part of the body where the belt is worn (Wace, 1160–1174), as in having water up to one's waist,^[2][3] and in 1611 Cotgrave records it for the part of a garment that goes round the waist.^[2] Because the belt also served as a long purse, the proverb bonne renommée vaut mieux que ceinture dorée compares a good name with a belt full of gold;^[3] se serrer la ceinture means to go without.^[3][9]

From the early 15th century it was used for anything that encircles: a band round a column (1676), the walls of a town (1676), and in Paris the Petite Ceinture, the line round the city.^[2][3] Later uses include the wrestling hold round the waist (1898), the safety belt of cars and aircraft and the coloured belts of judo (1906), with ceinture noire for the holder of the highest grade.^[3][2] In Canada ceinture fléchée is a broad woollen sash with arrow patterns.^[3][10]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Ceingture in the Oxford Psalter.^[11][2]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses it for the waist.^[2]
• c. 1175 – Chrétien de Troyes writes ceinture.^[2]
• c. 1415 – Alain Chartier uses it for a circuit or surrounding band.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it for the waistband of a garment.^[2]
• 1676 – Félibien uses it of a column and of a town wall.^[2]
• 1750 – Ceinture de chasteté is recorded.^[2]
• 1824 – Ceinture fléchée appears in Canada.^[10]
• 1906 – Ceinture de judo appears in the Larousse pour tous.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A belt, a band that tightens the waist or holds a garment in place.^[9][10]
2. The waistband of a skirt, dress or trousers.^[9][2]
3. The waist, the part of the body round which a belt is worn: de l'eau jusqu'à la ceinture.^[3][2]
4. (figurative, familiar) Se serrer la ceinture: to go without food, to do without something.^[9]
5. (combat sports) A belt whose colour shows a grade, ceinture noire: the highest grade, or a person who holds it.^[9][3]
6. A device worn round the waist, such as a seat belt, ceinture de sécurité.^[3][9]
7. Anything that encircles a place: the ring of walls or boulevards round a town.^[2][3]
8. (wrestling) A hold that grips the opponent round the waist.^[3]

Word family

• ceinturer
• ceinturon
• ceinturier

Related words

• ceindre
• Latin cinctūra

References

1. ^ a b c 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 s t 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 677a
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse