chanvre

Forms

chanvre m (plural chanvres)^[1] Old French chenvre (1089), chanve (1172–75), then chanvre (1268–71).^[2][3] The word was long feminine and still is in many dialects; the masculine, attested in the 13th century, prevailed only in the 17th.^[2][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chenvre, inherited from Vulgar Latin *canapus, an altered form of Latin cannabis (“hemp”).^[6][7][5][8] The TLFi and the DHLF speak only of an altered form of the Latin word,^[2][3] while Bloch and Wartburg find the Latin form hard to pin down and prefer the one with ⟨p⟩, which Provençal canebe supports.^[5] As in Greek and Latin, the word has forms of both genders in Medieval Latin, such as Medieval Latin canava and canapus.^[2] The Latin word was borrowed from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis), a culture word perhaps of Thracian, Scythian or Babylonian origin.^[3][5] The Germanic word, Old High German hanaf, was probably taken from Latin.^[3]

Cognate with Italian canapa, Spanish cáñamo and Portuguese cânhamo.^[5][9][10] The same Latin word was borrowed again from the botanists' Latin in 1846, giving a learned doublet now used for the drug.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as chenvre in 1089, in the cartulary of Noyers, naming the textile plant.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Hemp was an important crop in the Middle Ages and locally until the 19th century.^[3] By metonymy the word came to name the fibre itself and the yarn spun from it (Furetière, 1690).^[2][3] Chanvre indien now names the plant that yields hashish, like the borrowing cannabis.^[3][7]

Its derivatives are mainly technical words: chanvrier, chanvrière and chanvreur (1855).^[3][2] In African French chanvre de Guinée names a fibre-yielding hibiscus.^[3]

Timeline

• 1089 – Chenvre appears in the cartulary of Noyers.^[2]
• 1172–75 – Chrétien de Troyes writes chanve.^[2]
• 1268–71 – Chanvre appears in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[2][4]
• 1283 – The derivative chanvrier is recorded.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records it for the fibre and yarn.^[2]
• 1846 – The learned doublet cannabis is borrowed.^[3]
• 1855 – George Sand uses chanvreur.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Hemp, a textile plant grown in temperate regions, whose seed is chènevis.^[7][11]
2. Chanvre indien: Indian hemp, the variety from which haschisch is obtained.^[7][4]
3. The textile fibre from the hemp stalk, une corde de chanvre.^[7][11]
4. (dated) Cravate de chanvre: the hangman's rope.^[7][10]
5. A similar fibre from another plant: chanvre de Manille (abaca), chanvre du Bengale (jute).^[7]
6. Chanvre d'eau: hemp agrimony.^[7][11]

Word family

• chanvrier
• chanvrière
• chanvreur

Related words

• chènevis
• chènevière
• chènevotte
• canevas
• cannabis

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 210a
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)