coiffe

Forms

coiffe f (plural coiffes)^[1] Old French coife; also spelled coeffe up to the 18th century.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French coife, inherited from Late Latin cofia (“cap, coif”), recorded in Venantius Fortunatus in the 6th century.^{[3][4][5][2][6]} The Late Latin word was itself borrowed, but its source is disputed: the TLFi calls it obscure, perhaps Germanic, and Meyer-Lübke unknown;^[3][7] Bloch and Wartburg derive it from a West Germanic form ⟨kufia⟩, and the Grand Robert, Petit Robert and Rey from a Germanic word for a helmet.^{[4][8][9][10]} Wiktionary traces it through Old High German kupphia (“cap”) to Proto-West Germanic *kuppu (“round object, bowl”).^[1][11] Littré lists and rejects older proposals: a Hebrew word, or German Haube.^[2]

Cognate with Italian cuffia and scuffia, Spanish cofia and escofia, Portuguese coifa, Old Occitan coifa and Romanian coif (“helmet”).^[7][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) the coife is the cap of cloth, leather or mail worn under the helmet: tranche la coife entresques à la char (“cuts through the coif right to the flesh”).^[3][2][10]

Semantic evolution

From the soldier's head covering the word spread to caps worn by men (after 1225) and by women (1260, Étienne Boileau's coiffes a dames).^[3][10][2] In 1680 Richelet used it for the lining of a hat.^[3][5] Today it chiefly names the white caps of regional women's costume and of nuns.^[10][9]

From the idea of something that covers or wraps, it named the mesentery of some animals (1354–1376, the Roi Modus), the part of the fetal membranes covering a child's head at birth (1690, Furetière), and in botany the cap of a moss capsule or the tip of a root (1704).^[3][10][9] In bookbinding it is the top edge of the spine, and in the 20th century the nose cone of a rocket.^[10][9]

English coif is from Old French coife, recorded in the late 13th century.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland uses coife for a cap worn under the helmet.^[3]
• After 1225 – Gerbert de Montreuil uses it for a man's cap.^[3]
• 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers mentions coiffes a dames.^[3][2]
• Late 13th century – English borrows it as coif.^[11]
• 1354–1376 – The Roi Modus uses it for the mesentery of the deer.^[3]
• 1680 – Richelet records it for the lining of a hat.^[3][5]
• 1690 – Furetière records the fetal membrane sense.^[3][5]
• 1704 – Trévoux records the botanical sense.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A woman's headdress of cloth, lace or light fabric, once worn by all country women and now mostly part of regional costume; also the headdress of nuns: une coiffe bretonne.^[9][3]
2. The lining of a hat; a fabric cover over a képi.^[9]
3. (dated) Part of the fetal membranes that some babies have on their head at birth, a caul.^[9][3]
4. (botany) The cap covering a moss capsule; the root cap at the tip of a root.^[9]
5. (technical) A part that covers something: in bookbinding, the edge at the head and tail of the spine; the protective nose cone of a rocket.^[9]

Word family

• coiffer
• décoiffer
• recoiffer
• coiffeur
• coiffeuse
• coiffure

Related words

• Late Latin cofia
• English coif

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ a b c 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 836a
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com