cerveau

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sɛʁ.vo/^[1]

Forms

cerveau m (plural cerveaux)^[1] Old French cervel, with the forms cerveaus, cerviaus;^[2][3][4][5] cerveau from the 14th century.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cervel, inherited from Latin cerebellum (“small brain”), a diminutive of cerebrum (“brain”) (see cérébral).^{[2][3][6][7][8]} The Latin neuter plural, taken for a feminine singular, gave cervelle;^[3][6] Old French hardly distinguished them.^[3][6] Wiktionary traces the Latin word to the root Proto-Indo-European *ḱerh₂- (“head”);^[1][3] Rey compares Sanskrit शिरस् (śiras, “head”), Old High German hirni (“brain”) and Ancient Greek κάρα (kára, “head”).^[1][3]

Cognate with Italian cervello, Catalan cervell and Occitan cervel.^[6][5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) cervel is the brain as matter: a blow li a le cervel espandut, spilled his brains.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

In Chrétien de Troyes (about 1175) it is the organ of thought, intelligence and judgement.^[2][3] Un cerveau for a very intelligent person is found in 1586 (grans cerveaux), and Malherbe (1630) uses it for a person considered for their mind.^[9][2] In anatomy the word followed the progress of knowledge from Galen and Vesalius to the modern neurosciences;^[3][5] Paré (16th century) already distinguished the front brain from the cerebelle behind.^[3][5]

Chênedollé (1808) calls metaphysics le cerveau de toutes les sciences, and it came to mean the mastermind of a plan (le cerveau de l'opération).^[2][3] Cerveau électronique (1954) was for a time a fashionable name for the computer.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Cervel in the Chanson de Roland.^[2]
• c. 1175 – The organ of thought, in Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• 1586 – Grans cerveaux, very intelligent people.^[9]
• 1611 – The derivative cervelet.^[6][3]
• 1808 – “Directing centre”, in Chênedollé.^[2]
• 1954 – Cerveau électronique.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The brain: the mass of nerve tissue in the skull; in anatomy, the front and upper part of the encephalon.^[4][7]
2. The brain as the seat of thought; the mind: avoir le cerveau fêlé, to be a bit mad.^[10][4]
3. A highly intelligent person: la fuite des cerveaux, the brain drain.^[1][3]
4. The person who plans and directs an operation; the directing centre of an organization.^[3][10]
5. Rhume de cerveau: a head cold, lavage de cerveau, brainwashing.^[4][1]

Word family

• cervelet
• décerveler
• écervelé

Related words

• cervelle
• cérébral
• crâne
• Latin cerebrum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 601b
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse