colombe

Forms

colombe f (plural colombes)^[1] Old French columbe.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French columbe, inherited from Latin columba (“dove, pigeon”).^[4][2][5] The masculine columbus, used especially of the male pigeon, gave Old French colomb and coulon, found from the 9th century (in the Sequence of Saint Eulalia) to the 17th; it survives only in proper names and place names.^[4][2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the French word was used mainly in literary language, and Picoche counts it as learned.^[6][7]

Cognate with Italian colomba, Catalan coloma and Old Occitan columba.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1120 in the Oxford Psalter, in pennes de columbe surargentedes “the wings of a dove covered with silver”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The biblical symbolism of the dove, linked to the gentleness of the bride in the Song of Songs and to the Holy Spirit, gave it the figurative values of peace, gentleness and purity.^[2][3] Racine used it in 1689 of pure young girls.^[4][2] The colombe eucharistique, a dove-shaped vessel hung above the altar to hold the Eucharist, is recorded in 1866.^[10][8] In 1966 the word took the political sense “a supporter of peace”, set against faucon, translating English dove.^[3][11]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Columbe appears in the Oxford Psalter.^[4]
• c. 1250 – The diminutive colombelle is recorded.^[4][2]
• 1689 – Racine uses it of young girls in Esther.^[4]
• 1866 – Larousse records the eucharistic dove.^[10]
• 1966 – It is used for a supporter of peace, after English.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) A dove, a pigeon, especially a white one, seen as a symbol of gentleness, purity and peace: la colombe de l'Arche.^[3][11][10]
2. (politics) A supporter of a peaceful solution in a conflict, the opposite of a hawk.^[3][11]
3. (zoology, dated) A pigeon.^[3][4]
4. (figurative, dated) A pure, innocent young girl; also a term of affection: ma colombe.^[3][10]
5. (history) A dove-shaped vessel for the Eucharist hung above the altar.^[10][8]

Word family

• colombelle

Related words

• colombier
• colombin
• Latin columba

Usage notes

The humorous saying la bave du crapaud n'atteint pas la blanche colombe means that slander does not touch the innocent.^[3] A second colombe, “an upright post in a timber partition”, recorded in this sense from 1334, is a doublet of colonne, from a confusion of Latin columna with columba.^[12][10][13]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 931a
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)