compote

Forms

compote f (plural compotes)^[1] Old French composte, the spelling used until the 16th century and beyond.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French composte, which the TLFi and Rey take as borrowed from Latin composita (“a dish made of several ingredients”), the feminine past participle of compōnō (“to put together”) used as a noun.^[2][3][5] Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF instead give a popular Latin *composita inherited by French;^[6][7] Wiktionary derives it from compostus, a syncopated form of compositus.^[1] The Medieval Latin form composta is recorded in 1271.^[3]

Old French also had the adjective compost “composed”, used as a noun for a mixture and for manure, whence the English word compost, later borrowed back by French as compost (1740).^[6][8] The word is thus a doublet of compost and of composite.^[1] Cognate with Italian composta (“preserve”).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Rashi's French glosses of the 11th century composte means food preserved in vinegar or salt.^[2][5][9] It was a dish of several ingredients: fish or meat preserved in vinegar, or fruit preserved in wine, sugar and honey.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Modern usage in France has kept the sense of fruit cut or crushed and cooked with sugar (recorded by Cotgrave in 1611), distinct from jam, at the expense of the old savoury stew, which survives in cooking in compote de lapereau and pigeons en compote.^[3][7][2] In Swiss French compote or compote aux raves (campotte, 1753) is a dish of turnips cut into strips and fermented like sauerkraut.^[3][8]

From the look of stewed food came the familiar en compote “bruised, battered”, as early as jambe en composte in Mellin de Saint-Gelais (late 15th–early 16th century).^[2][10] English borrowed compote in the 1690s, for fruit preserved in syrup.^[11]

Timeline

• 11th century – Composte “food preserved in vinegar or salt” appears in Rashi's glosses.^[2]
• 1205–1215 – Used in Aiol.^[2][7]
• 1271 – Medieval Latin composta is recorded in the Swiss sense.^[3]
• Late 15th–early 16th century – Jambe en composte “battered leg” in Mellin de Saint-Gelais.^[2][10]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “stewed fruit”.^[7]
• 1690s – English borrows compote.^[11]
• 1746 – The derivative compotier is recorded.^[6]
• 1753 – Swiss campotte, fermented turnips.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dessert of fruit cut up or crushed and cooked with water and a little sugar: une compote de pommes.^[9][2]
2. A similar dish of vegetables: compote d'oignons.^[9]
3. (dated) A stew, especially of game birds: pigeons en compote.^[2][7][4]
4. (familiar) En compote: crushed, battered, bruised: avoir les jambes en compote.^[9][7][10]
5. (Switzerland) Compote aux raves, turnips cut into strips and fermented.^[3]

Word family

• compotier

Related words

• compost
• composite
• composer
• Latin compōnō
• English compote

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com