cervoise

Forms

cervoise f (usually uncountable, plural cervoises)^[1] Old French cerveise (before 1175), then cervoise (1177–1180).^[2][3] Anglo-Norman cervaise, cerveise, cervise, servoise and other spellings.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cervoise, inherited from Latin cervēsia (“beer”), a word of Imperial Latin found in the whole Romance area.^[2][3][1][5] The Latin word is of Gaulish origin, perhaps of the same root as a Greek word for the same drink.^[2][3][6][7] Littré cites the Latin forms cervisia in Pliny and cervisa in Marcellus of Bordeaux.^[8]

Cognate with Old Occitan cerveza, Catalan cervesa, Spanish cerveza and Portuguese cerveja;^[9][8][6] Old Italian cervogia was taken from French.^[9][8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as cerveise before 1175 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie.^[2][3] In Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain (1177–1180) a proverb says that there are more words in a full pot of wine than in a hogshead of cervoise (Plus a paroles an plain pot De vin qu'an un mui de cervoise).^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Brewed without hops from barley or wheat, cervoise was drunk in Antiquity and by the Gauls and was much in favour in the Middle Ages, when the word also named the houses where it was sold.^[3][2] The 13th-century Livre des métiers required brewers to make it only from water and grain.^[8] When bière¹ spread in the 15th century the word became a historical term;^[3][8] Paré in the 16th century still writes cervoise ou biere.^[3][8] Richelet defined it in 1680 as a drink of the ancients, and the Académie in 1694 noted that it was hardly used any more.^[2]

Timeline

• before 1175 – Cerveise in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[2]
• 1177–1180 – Cervoise in Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain.^[2]
• 13th century – The Livre des métiers regulates its brewing.^[8]
• 15th century – Hopped beer, bière, spreads and replaces it.^[3]
• 1680 – Richelet calls it a drink of the ancients.^[2]
• 1694 – The Académie notes that it is hardly in use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) ale: a beer made from fermented barley or wheat without hops, drunk in Antiquity and in the Middle Ages.^{[2][7][11][1]}

Related words

• bière¹
• Latin cervēsia

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 612b
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)