concasser

Forms

concasser^[1] Old French conquaisser (13th century), Middle French conquasser (1393).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French conquaisser, inherited from Latin conquassō (“to shake violently, to shatter”),^[2][4][5][1] formed from com- and quassō (“to shake”), the source of casser.^[3][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin verb survives only in Gallo-Romance;^[5] Rey instead treats the French verb as a borrowing from Latin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the 13th century, in the Merlin, as reflexive soi conquaisser “to break, shatter”.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

In 1393 the Ménagier de Paris uses conquasser transitively for reducing hard, dry substances to small pieces,^[2][3] the sense the verb still has.^[9] In the 16th century Amyot used it of ships and a town shattered,^[7] and Littré records it as a pharmacy term for breaking roots or wood into fragments.^[7] The verb produced concassement (16th century), concassage (1845) and concasseur (1838, Stendhal, figuratively; 1848 for a crushing machine).^[3]

Timeline

• 13th century – Soi conquaisser “to shatter” in the Merlin.^[2]
• 1393 – Conquasser in the Ménagier de Paris, for crushing hard, dry matter.^[2][3]
• 16th century – Concassement appears.^[3]
• 1838 – Stendhal uses concasseur.^[3]
• 1845 – Concassage is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To crush or break coarsely a hard or dry substance into small pieces, with a hammer, pestle or crusher: concasser des noisettes, concasser du minerai.^[9][2]
2. (cooking) To chop a peeled and seeded tomato into small pieces.^[1]
3. Poivre concassé: coarsely crushed pepper.^[9][2]

Word family

• concasseur
• concassage
• concassement

Related words

• casser
• Latin conquassō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1057b
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert