cep

Forms

cep m (plural ceps)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cippus (“post, stake, boundary stone”).^[2][3][4][1] Rey describes the Latin word as a popular formation with expressive doubling of the consonant, meaning a post or a boundary or grave stone, and in military use a stake driven into the ground against the enemy.^[3] From “stake” the word came to mean a tree trunk, then mainly the stock of a vine.^[4] Bloch and Wartburg note that it is still pronounced without the /p/ in central France and that the pronunciation with /p/ comes from the spelling.^[4] Wiktionary gives cippe, cèpe and sep as doublets.^[1]

Cognate with Italian ceppo, Occitan cep, Catalan cep, Spanish cepo, Portuguese cepo and Romanian cep.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Judeo-French glosses of Rashi at the beginning of the 11th century, both as a wooden fetter and as the stock of a vine.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “fetter”, the block of wood that held a prisoner's feet, and by extension a prisoner's chains, was current in the Middle Ages and up to the 16th century; the Académie called it old-fashioned in 1694, and it has died out.^[2][3][4] From 1386 the word also named the wooden piece that carries the share of a plough, also spelled sep in that sense.^[2][3][6] These senses show that the general meaning “trunk, block of wood” lasted beside the vine sense.^[4] The vine sense became the usual one, also as cep de vigne.^[3]

Its derivatives include cépée (about 1180), a clump of shoots growing from a stump, cépage (1573), a vine plant and later a grape variety, and recéper (1395), to cut back vine stocks.^[3][4]

Timeline

• early 11th century – Rashi's glosses have the word for a fetter and for a vine stock.^[2]
• 1120–1150 – Cep “fetter” in the Vers del Juise.^[2]
• 1262 – The vine sense in Jean le Marchand's Miracles de Notre-Dame de Chartres.^[2]
• 1386 – First record for the piece that carries the ploughshare.^[2][3]
• 1573 – The derivative cépage appears, in Baïf.^[4][3]
• 1694 – The Académie calls the sense “fetter” old-fashioned.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The stock of a vine, the woody stem of the grapevine; also cep de vigne.^[2][6]
2. The piece of wood or iron that carries the ploughshare (also written sep).^[6][7][2]
3. (archaic) In the plural, wooden stocks or fetters, and by extension a prisoner's chains.^[2][7]

Word family

• cépage
• cépée
• recéper

Related words

• cippe
• cèpe
• Latin cippus

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 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 e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse