châtrer

Forms

châtrer^[1] Old French chastrer.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chastrer, inherited from Latin castrō (“to castrate, to prune”), which also meant “to weaken” figuratively.^[2][4][3] It is the popular doublet of the learned castrer.^[2][4][1]

Cognate with Picard catrer, Occitan castrar, Spanish castrar and Italian castrare.^[5][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121) has chastrer used reflexively, “to make oneself impotent”;^[2] the transitive use is found in Chrétien de Troyes's Cligès (about 1175).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides its usual sense of castrating a male, usually an animal, the verb was applied to bees (1486, “to take the wax or honey from the hive") and to plants (1562, apples whose surplus shoots were cut away).^[2][4] The figurative sense “to mutilate, to weaken”, of a book cut of its bolder passages, is recorded from 1690 (livre chastré).^[2][4]

Its derivative châtreur (1585) first appears in the Picard form castreur (1416).^[4][2]

Timeline

• 1121 – Chastrer appears in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire.^[2]
• c. 1175 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it transitively.^[2]
• 1416 – The derivative castreur is recorded at Tournai.^[2]
• 1486 – Chastrer les abeilles “to take the honey from the hive”.^[2]
• 1562 – Pommes chastrees, of pruned fruit trees.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records livre chastré.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To castrate (a male animal, sometimes a female or a man).^[7][2]
2. (figurative) To expurgate or mutilate a book, cutting the passages judged too bold.^[7][8]
3. (horticulture) To remove the runners or surplus flowers of a plant such as a strawberry or melon.^[7][5]
4. To take the wax or honey from a beehive.^[5][2]
5. (cooking) To remove the gut of a crayfish before cooking.^[2]

Word family

• châtreur

Related words

• castrer
• castrat
• Latin castrō

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 o p q 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse