Etymologically
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cigare

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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

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