cercueil

Forms

cercueil m (plural cercueils)^[1] Old French sarqueu, sarcou, sarcu, sercueil, serqeu;^[2][3][4] Middle French sarcueil;^[2][3][4] cercueil from 1547.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sarqueu, inherited from Latin sarcophagus, from Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos, “flesh-eating”), the name of a limestone that was believed to consume flesh and so was used for coffins.^[1][2][4][5] The Greek adjective is formed from σάρξ (sárx, “flesh”) and φαγεῖν (phageîn, “to eat”).^[2][3] The GLLF says the word came through Church Latin.^[6]

The form was much reduced in sound.^[3] The ending ⟨-euil⟩ is a new singular made from the old declension, in which a singular in ⟨-euil⟩ went with a plural in ⟨-eux⟩, as still in aïeul and its plural: sarcueil was drawn from the plural sarqueus.^[3] The word is lacking in the other Romance languages but is shared with German Sarg and Dutch zerk;^[4][3] Bloch and Wartburg think it travelled very early, with other church words, along the Danube.^[4] sarcophage is a learned borrowing of the same Greek word.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1050 in the Vie de saint Alexis, where the saint's body is laid en un sarqueu de marbre, in a marble coffin.^[2][3] The Chanson de Roland has En blans sarcous fait mettre les seigneurs.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The meaning, a long box in which a dead body is laid before burial, has not changed since Old French.^[3][2] Froissart (14th century) still writes sarcueux and sarcueil.^[7][3] In much of France the word had rivals: bière in the Centre, châsse in the West and caisse in the South, and in the South-West forms from the Arabic word for a coffin.^[3] Older words such as Latin locellus (kept in Picardy) and vascellum (in Lorraine and Wallonia) probably named humbler containers than the stone sarcophagos.^[4]

Figuratively the word names anything that holds what is dead or past, and it shares with tombe phrases such as avoir un pied dans le cercueil.^[6][3] A camping slang use for a tent is recorded by Quemada.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Sarqueu in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2][3]
• c. 1100 – Sarcou in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Wace writes sarcu.^[2]
• 1165–1170 – Sercueil in a manuscript of Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie.^[2][9]
• 14th century – Froissart writes sarcueux and sarcueil.^[7][3]
• 1547 – The spelling cercueil appears.^[2][9]
• 1564 – Thierry's dictionary has cercueil.^[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A coffin, a long box in which a dead body is placed for burial: un cercueil de chêne.^[10][2]
2. (figurative, literary) Something that holds what is dead or gone, a tomb.^[6][2]
3. Du berceau au cercueil: from birth to death.^[10]

Related words

• sarcophage
• bière²
• Ancient Greek σαρκοφάγος (sarkophágos)

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 k l m n 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 o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 230a
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert