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
- The brain: the mass of nerve tissue in the skull; in anatomy, the front and upper part of the encephalon.[4][7]
- The brain as the seat of thought; the mind: avoir le cerveau fêlé, to be a bit mad.[10][4]
- A highly intelligent person: la fuite des cerveaux, the brain drain.[1][3]
- The person who plans and directs an operation; the directing centre of an organization.[3][10]
- Rhume de cerveau: a head cold, lavage de cerveau, brainwashing.[4][1]
Word family
- cervelet
- décerveler
- écervelé
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 601b
- ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
- ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse