Etymologically
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chef

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʃɛf/[1]

Forms

chef m (plural chefs)[1] Old French chieef, chief (nominative chiés); chef from the 14th century.[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French chief,[1] inherited from Vulgar Latin *capum, attested in the 7th century,[2][3][6] an altered form of classical Latin caput (“head; end; leader”).[2][3][7][8] Rey relates caput to English head and Sanskrit कपाल (kapāla, “skull”).[3] The southern outcome Occitan cap gave French cap, a doublet.[9][1]

Cognate with Italian capo, Romanian cap, Catalan cap and Spanish cabo; Spanish jefe was borrowed from French.[10][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first sense, “head”, is found in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia (late 9th century), where the persecutor orders her head cut off: “ad une spede li roveret tolir lo chief”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Beside “head”, which tête gradually replaced (it was old-fashioned by the 17th century and survives in couvre-chef and opiner du chef),[3][7][9] the word took over the figurative senses of Latin caput: “end, extremity” (about 1130), “one who is at the head of something, leader” (1172–1174), and “main point” (13th century).[2][3] From these come chef d'accusation “count of indictment” (1614), de son chef “on one's own authority” (1643) and au premier chef “first and foremost”.[2][9]

Chef de cuisine is recorded by the Académie in 1740, and chef alone for the head cook from 1836,[2] the sense borrowed into English.[1] In modern French it is the usual word for a boss or leader, with the feminine cheffe.[9][1]

Timeline

  • late 9th century – Chieef “head” in the Eulalia.[2][3]
  • c. 1130 – “End, extremity”.[2]
  • 1172–1174 – “Leader” (Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence).[2]
  • 1614 – Chef d'accusation.[2]
  • 1643 – De son chef.[2][9]
  • 1740 – Chef de cuisine.[2]
  • 1836 – Chef “head cook”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A leader or head; a boss: chef d'État, chef d'équipe.[9][1]
  2. A head cook, a chef.[9][1]
  3. Chef d'orchestre: a conductor.[9][1]
  4. (law) A head or count: chef d'accusation.[9][1]
  5. (literary) The head: branler du chef.[9][2]
  6. (heraldry) The chief, the upper part of a shield.[9][1]

Word family

  • chef-lieu
  • couvre-chef
  • derechef
  • chefferie
  • cheftaine
  • sous-chef
  • chef-d'œuvre
  • achever

Usage notes

In chef-d'œuvre the f is silent, while it is pronounced in chef-lieu and in chef itself; older French dropped it before a consonant or plural s.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  6. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
  7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 334a
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter