cigare

Pronunciation

• IPA: /si.ɡaʁ/^[1]

Forms

cigare m (plural cigares)^[1] Cigarro (1688), cigale (1722–1771), cigare (1770), cigarre (1834); sometimes feminine, as in Chateaubriand and in the south-east.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish cigarro (about 1610),^{[2][3][4][5][1]} whose origin is uncertain.^[2][3][5][6] Bloch and Wartburg, the FEW and the REW take it from a Maya verb Yucatec Maya zicar (“to smoke”);^[4][7][8] others from cigarra (“cicada”), made masculine, by likeness of shape and colour, which the French form “cigale” (1722–1771) seems to support.^[2][3][5] Littré took it from a Spanish verb “cigarar” “to roll in paper”.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Exquemelin's history of the buccaneers (1688), speaking of Cuba, describes leaves of tobacco rolled into little balls que les Espagnols nomment Cigarros, smoked without a pipe.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The French form cigare is found from 1770 (Dom Pernetty) and became usual in the 19th century.^[2][4][5] By analogy it named rolls of medicinal leaves, such as belladonna, to be smoked, and a long wooden fishing lure.^[3][10]

The diminutive cigarette (1830–1831) first meant a small cigar in Latin America and then, from 1840–1860, rolled cut tobacco in thin paper.^[3][4] Cigarière, a woman who makes cigars, dates from 1863–1869.^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1610 – Spanish cigarro.^[2][3]
• 1688 – Cigarros (Exquemelin).^[2][3]
• 1722 – Cigale (Labat).^[2][3]
• 1770 – Cigare (Dom Pernetty).^[2][4]
• 1831 – Cigarette (Balzac).^[3][4]
• 1835 – First recorded by the Académie.^[2]
• 1915 – Slang “head”.^[5][11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cigar: fumer un cigare, cigare de La Havane.^[11][10]
2. (fishing) A long wooden lure.^[10]

Word family

• cigarette

Related words

• cigale
• English cigar

Usage notes

In slang (1915) le cigare is the head, from coupe-cigare “guillotine”: n'avoir rien dans le cigare is to have nothing in one's head; the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert treat it as a second word.^[5][11][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 20, 85a
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c 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