cendre

Forms

cendre f (plural cendres)^[1] Anglo-Norman also has cindre, sendre and ceindre.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cinis (“ashes”), from its accusative cinerem.^[3][4][5][6] The FEW dates the French word to the 11th century.^[3] The Latin noun was masculine but sometimes feminine in poets, perhaps after Ancient Greek κόνις (kónis, “dust”), the only comparison known, although its vowel does not match.^[5][7] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *ken- (“dust, ashes”).^[1]

Cognate with Italian cenere, Old Occitan cenre and Catalan cendra.^[7][8][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Psautier d'Oxford (early 12th century) uses it for the powdery residue of burnt matter.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Latin cinis already meant the remains of the dead burnt on the pyre, and in Christian Latin, after the Vulgate, it became a sign of mourning and penance and a symbol of human nothingness beside dust.^[5] French took over the phrase en cendre about 1160, after Latin in cinerem.^[5][3]

From the late 12th century the plural named the remains of a cremated body, then the mortal remains in general (before 1560) and, figuratively, what is left of something, its memory (before 1577).^[5][3] In religious use it became, from the 13th century, a sign of mortification, mourning or penance, as in le sac et la cendre, and the ashes of the Catholic liturgy marked the faithful on the first day of Lent.^[5][7]

Timeline

• early 12th century – The Psautier d'Oxford uses it for the residue of burnt matter.^[3]
• c. 1160 – Mise en cendre “destroyed by fire” appears in the Roman d'Eneas.^[3][5]
• late 12th century – Étienne de Fougères uses it for the dust of a dead body.^[3][5]
• 13th century – It is a sign of mourning or penance.^[3][5]
• early 13th century – Villehardouin refers to the ashes of the first day of Lent.^[3][7]
• before 1560 – Du Bellay uses it for mortal remains.^[3]
• 1560 – Grévin uses en cendre figuratively.^[3]
• before 1577 – Rémy Belleau uses it for what remains of the past.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Ash, the powdery residue left when something burns: la cendre d'un cigare.^[3][9]
2. Mettre, réduire en cendres: to destroy by fire.^[9][3][1]
3. Le feu couve sous la cendre: (figurative) a passion or conflict smoulders unseen.^[9][10][7]
4. (in the plural) The remains of a cremated body, mortal remains; figuratively, the remains or memory of the past.^[3][1][5]
5. A sign of mourning or penance: le sac et la cendre;^[5][7][1] le mercredi des Cendres, Ash Wednesday.^[5][7][1]

Word family

• cendrier
• cendreux
• cendré
• cendrée

Related words

• cinéraire
• Latin cinis

Usage notes

Renaître de ses cendres is to rise again from one's ashes.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 684a
7. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse