chevalin

Forms

chevalin (feminine chevaline, masculine plural chevalins, feminine plural chevalines)^[1] Anglo-Norman also had the spelling chivalayn.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin caballīnus (“of a horse”), from caballus (“horse”).^[3][4][5] Rey counts it among the words taken from Latin, beside chevalier.^[5] The Robert dictionaries add that its form was shaped after cheval,^[6][7] and Wiktionary treats it as inherited from the Latin adjective, a formation that also reads as from French cheval + -in.^[1]

Bloch and Wartburg list it among the derivatives of the French noun, with a first date of 1376.^[8] The Latin noun was at first a colloquial word for a nag, which replaced classical Latin equus.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first recorded in 1119 in Philippe de Thaon's Comput, meaning “relating to the horse”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century bestes chevalines meant horses as livestock;^[3] the Académie long recorded bête chevaline for a horse or a mare, a use now old-fashioned.^[3] From 1600, in Olivier de Serres, the feminine chevaline was also used as a noun for the horse species.^[3]

In 1834 Balzac used the adjective of what looks like a horse,^[3] the sense Rey picks out as its main modern use, in phrases such as un visage chevalin.^[5] The butcher's shop selling horsemeat, boucherie chevaline, is recorded in 1875; a quotation in Littré's Supplement notes that the first one had opened in Paris in 1866.^[3]

Timeline

• 1119 – First record, in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[3][5]
• 1376 – The date Bloch and Wartburg give for the word.^[8]
• 15th century – Bestes chevalines appears in the Débat des hérauts d'armes.^[3]
• 1600 – Olivier de Serres uses chevaline as a noun for the horse species.^[3]
• 1834 – Balzac uses it of what resembles a horse.^[3]
• 1866 – The first horse butcher's shop opens in Paris.^[3]
• 1875 – Boucherie chevaline is recorded in the Journal officiel.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of or relating to the horse, equine: la race chevaline.^[7][3]
2. Boucherie chevaline: a butcher's shop that sells horsemeat.^[7][3]
3. Resembling a horse, said of a person's features: un profil chevalin.^[7][3]
4. (dated) Bête chevaline: a horse or a mare.^[3]

Related words

• cheval
• chevalier
• Latin caballīnus

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 7b
5. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France