chaume

Forms

chaume m (plural chaumes)^[1] Anglo-Norman caume, chaum and chame.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chaume, through a late form calmus, inherited from Latin calamus (“reed, stalk”).^[3][4][1] From Virgil on, the Latin word also meant the stalk of a plant, often of cereals in Pliny.^[4][3] The Latin word, an early loan, is from Ancient Greek κάλαμος (kálamos, “reed”), and it drove out the native Latin harundō.^[3][5][6] Littré connects the Medieval Latin calma with a feminine form of the word sometimes found in Old French.^[7]

Cognate with Italian calmo (“graft”).^[8] It is a doublet of the learned calame.^[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1195, in Ambroise's Estoire de la guerre sainte, for the stalks of corn.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Chiefly used in the plural for the stalks of corn, the word came to mean, as a collective, the straw thatching rural houses (about 1275, in the Roman de la Rose).^[3][4] By metonymy it stood for the house itself, and since 1651–52 for a humble condition, later for rustic life.^[3][4] The sense “field with the stubble still standing” is recorded before 1453.^[9]

Its derivatives are mostly farming words: chaumer (1338) and later déchaumer (1732); chaumine (1606), first an adjective, was replaced by chaumière (1666).^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1195 – Ambroise uses it in farming.^[4]
• c. 1275 – Jean de Meun uses it for roof thatch in the Roman de la Rose.^[4][7]
• 1338 – The verb chaumer appears.^[5]
• before 1453 – Monstrelet uses it for a stubble field.^[9]
• 1651–52 – Corneille uses chaumes for humble dwellings.^[4]
• 1666 – chaumière is recorded.^[5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) The hollow, jointed stem of grasses; a culm.^[4][10]
2. The part of cereal stalks left standing after the harvest; stubble.^[11][12][10]
3. A field in which the stubble is still standing.^[11][9][10]
4. Straw used to cover roofs; thatch.^[11][12][10]
5. (poetic) A thatched roof, or a poor country dwelling.^[9][4]

Word family

• chaumière
• chaumer
• déchaumer
• chaumine

Related words

• chalumeau
• calame
• Latin calamus

Usage notes

Littré records a second chaume, feminine, used in Lower Burgundy for the bare, stony top of a hill.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)