cerf

Forms

cerf m (plural cerfs, feminine biche)^[1] Old French nominative cers.^[2] The final /f/ is pronounced by some speakers and not by others, and Littré noted that the pronunciation was far from settled.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin cervus (“deer, stag”).^[4][5][6][7] The Latin feminine cerva did not survive in French, where biche took its place.^[8] According to Rey, the old Indo-European name of the deer, seen in Ancient Greek ἔλαφος (élaphos), was avoided under a hunting taboo and replaced by a word meaning “horned”, so that the Latin word belongs with the root of cornū (“horn”).^[8]

Cognate with Italian cervo, Occitan cer and Spanish ciervo.^[2][1] Littré compares Breton karv and Old High German hiruz.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), for the stag: Si com li cers s'en va devant les chiens “as the stag runs before the hounds”.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word names a ruminant with branched antlers, and especially the adult male, the female being the biche.^[8][9] It also names the representations of the animal in heraldry and symbolism.^[8][4] The hunting vocabulary names the stag by its age, as cerf dix cors for a stag in its seventh year.^[4][2]

Popular French used it for a cuckold, from the antlers and the horns that are the cuckold's emblem, and slang had se déguiser en cerf “to run off”, from the animal's speed.^[4] The compound cerf-volant named the stag beetle (1611), whose jaws recall antlers, and later a kite (1669), a sense whose origin is obscure: one theory sees an altered form of the word for “serpent” in it.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Cers appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[4][2]
• 1381 – The compound cerf-volant is first recorded.^[5]
• 1611 – Cerf-volant names the stag beetle.^[8]
• 1669 – Cerf-volant names a kite.^[8]
• 1886 – The zoological term cervidé is formed from the Latin stem.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A deer, a forest ruminant living in herds, especially the adult male, which bears antlers: a stag.^[10][9]
2. (heraldry) The figure of a stag on a coat of arms.^[4]
3. (popular) A cuckold.^[4]
4. Se déguiser en cerf (slang): to run away.^[4]

Word family

• cerf-volant

Related words

• biche
• cervidé
• Latin cervus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 613b
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)