chevreau

Forms

chevreau m (plural chevreaux)^[1] Old French cheverel and chevrel^[2][3][4] An old variant was chevrot.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French chèvre + -eau, first with the older suffix -el as Old French cheverel.^[2][5][6][3] The base chèvre is from Latin capra (“she-goat”).^[6] Wiktionary also mentions a possible source in Latin capellus influenced by the French noun.^[1]

Cognate with Occitan cabrel.^[7] The old variant chevrot gave chevrotin and chevroter.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as cheverel about 1170, in the Quatre Livres des Rois, translating Latin haedum de capris “a kid of the goats”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Joinville compared a wild animal called gazel to a chevrel,^[7] and the Ménagier de Paris judged a quarter of kid better than lamb.^[7]

By metonymy it came to mean the tanned skin of the kid or goat (1841).^[4] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word is little used today except for this leather, used for gloves, and that the dialects prefer cabri, derivatives of chèvre and many derivatives of bique.^[6] George Sand used Berry forms with other suffixes, such as chebri and chebrillon.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Cheverel in the Quatre Livres des Rois.^[2][4]
• 13th century – Joinville writes chevrel.^[7]
• 14th century – The Ménagier de Paris speaks of a quarter of chevrel.^[7]
• 16th century – Marot uses the form chevreau.^[7]
• 1841 – First used for the tanned skin.^[4]
• 1866 – Larousse records the leather sense.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kid, the young of the goat.^[5][2][9]
2. Leather made from kid, the tanned skin of a goat or kid: des gants de chevreau.^[5][2]
3. Chevreau glacé: kid tanned with chrome and given a glossy finish.^[9]
4. (astronomy, dated, plural) Les Chevreaux, a small group of stars in the constellation Auriga.^[7]

Related words

• chèvre
• chevrette
• chevrotin
• Latin capra

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c 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 f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)