chèvre

Forms

chèvre f (plural chèvres, masculine bouc)^[1] Old French chievre, the form until the 16th century, and Picard kievre.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chievre, inherited from Latin capra (“she-goat”), the feminine of caper (“he-goat”).^[4][5][2][6] According to Varro, the Latin masculine first meant a castrated he-goat; it has been compared with Old Norse hafr (“he-goat”) and Old Irish caera (“sheep”).^[2]

Cognate with Romanian capră, Italian capra, Occitan cabra, Catalan cabra, Spanish cabra and Portuguese cabra.^[7][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as chievre in Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119), meaning the goat.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The word names both the species and the female in particular, the male being the bouc.^[2][8] Bloch and Wartburg note that in many northern dialects it now competes with bique, and that southern forms like Old Occitan cabra have spread north.^[6]

The animal's stubbornness gave figurative phrases from Old French on: tenir por chievre “to take for a fool” (about 1220), devenir chèvre (1675) and faire devenir chèvre “to drive mad”, and ménager la chèvre et le chou “to keep in with both sides” (1672).^[4][2]

By likeness to the animal, the word named a hoisting device (1611), whose shape recalls a goat's head and back,^[4][2] and a three-legged trestle.^[4] Used by metonymy in cheese-making, un chèvre is a goat's-milk cheese.^[2][7]

Timeline

• 1119 – Chievre appears in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[4]
• c. 1220 – Gautier de Coinci uses tenir por chievre “to take for a fool”.^[4]
• 16th century – The spelling chèvre replaces chievre.^[2]
• 1611 – First record of the sense “hoisting device”.^[4][2]
• 1672 – Madame de Sévigné writes ménager la chèvre et les choux.^[4]
• 1675 – Widerhold's dictionary records devenir chèvre.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminine) A goat, a horned ruminant kept for its milk and meat; especially the female, the nanny goat.^[7][8]
2. (feminine, technical) A hoist, a lifting device of two uprights joined at an acute angle with a pulley at the top.^[4][2]
3. (feminine, technical) A three-legged trestle.^[4]
4. (masculine) Goat's-milk cheese: un chèvre bien frais.^[7][1]

Word family

• chevreau
• chèvrefeuille
• chevrette
• chevreuil
• chevrier
• chevron
• chevroter

Related words

• caprin
• bouc
• cabri
• cabrer
• capricorne
• Latin capra

Usage notes

In the sense “goat's cheese” the word is masculine (un chèvre, du chèvre), an ellipsis of fromage de chèvre.^[7][1] Ménager la chèvre et le chou means to deal with two opposed parties without upsetting either.^[3][4]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 294b
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse