cidre

Forms

cidre m (plural cidres)^[1] Old French sizre (the first record), cisdre and sidre.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman texts also have cisere, siser and sydre.^[5] Middle French sildre and citre are found in the 15th and 16th centuries.^[6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sidre, inherited from Late Latin sicera (“fermented drink”), the word of the Vulgate and the Christian writers,^[2][7][1][8] which is from Ancient Greek σίκερα (síkera), a transcription of Biblical Hebrew שֵׁכָר (šēḵār, “strong drink”).^[2][7][1] Rey derives the Hebrew noun from a verb meaning to drink to excess.^[2] The Latin form must have been altered to *cisera, a form attested in medieval Latin,^[7][2][3] and the /d/ developed between the consonants as in ladre from Latin Lazarus.^[2] The word probably spread in Gaul first through the monasteries.^[7]

Italian sidro and Spanish sidra come from the French word.^[3][9] Littré cites Berry citre and Picard cite.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as sizre in the Cambridge Psalter (about 1120), in the biblical sense of a fermented or strong drink, a sense that stayed confined to translations of the Bible.^[2][10][7]

Semantic evolution

In the 12th century the word was narrowed to fermented apple juice: Wace uses cidre in this sense in 1130–1140.^[7][2] The specialization arose in Normandy, according to Rey in Lower Normandy (the valleys of the Risle and the Touque), and spread from there to the rest of France,^[2][7][3] though the drink did not catch on everywhere at once.^[2] In the Middle Ages pommé was also used, and still lives in the dialects.^[3]

By extension the word named drinks made from other fermented fruit: in 1575 Thevet speaks of a citre of apples or pears,^[7][2] and in the 16th century the word still covered pear juice around Paris.^[3] The Académie recorded this wider sense in 1835 and 1878; the TLFi now labels it old.^[7] Except for the far south-west, which says pomada, the word is found in all the Gallo-Romance dialects, in many of them as citre.^[3]

English cider comes from the Old French word; it is recorded in a biblical context in the late 13th century, and for a drink made from fruit juice by the mid-14th century.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Sizre “strong drink” appears in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2][10]
• 1130–1140 – Wace uses cidre for fermented apple juice.^[7][2]
• late 13th century – English cider is first recorded, in a biblical context.^[11]
• 15th century – Olivier Basselin praises the sildre de Normandie.^[6]
• 1575 – Thevet uses citre for a drink of apples or pears.^[7]
• 1907 – The derivative cidricole is first recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. cider, a drink made by fermenting apple juice: Ils ont bu une bolée de cidre à la ferme.^[12][7][13]
2. Cidre bouché: sparkling cider that has had a second fermentation in a corked bottle.^[12]
3. (dated) A drink made from the fermented juice of other fruits, such as pears.^[7][10]

Word family

• cidricole

Related words

• poiré
• Latin sicera
• English cider

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 589b
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)