Etymology and origin of the French word cor
cor1 horn
Etymology tree of cor1
From the same root · cor1
Pronunciation
- /kɔʁ/[1]
Forms
cor m (plural cors)[1] Old French corn (about 1100), cor (about 1165).[2][3]
Etymology
The word for the horn is inherited from Old French corn, inherited from Latin cornū (“horn of an animal, horn as a material, a thing made of horn, wind instrument”).[3][4][5][1] It comes from the singular of the Latin noun, while corne comes from *corna, a collective singular taken from the neuter plural cornua.[4] Wiktionary traces the Latin noun to Proto-Indo-European *ḱer-.[1]
Cognate with Italian corno, Occitan corn, Catalan corn, Spanish cuerno, Portuguese corno and Romanian corn.[6][7]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is first found as corn in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), naming the olifant, Roland's horn, made in the shape of a horn and carved from an elephant's tusk.[3][4]
Semantic evolution
Once the difference between the two forms faded, cor and corne competed, and corne won for the horn of an animal.[4] The language of hunting kept cor for each tine of a stag's antlers (about 1354), in cerf dix cors, which gives the animal's age.[4][2][5]
The word survived as the name of the instrument.[4][5] Hunters came to call the hunting horn trompe, but everyday French still says cor de chasse (1420), and the hunting horn gave the phrase à cor et à cri “with great noise”.[4][2] In the orchestra cor d'harmonie or simply cor names the French horn (1810), and by 1675 the word also meant a horn player.[4][2] Cor anglais, recorded by Bescherelle in 1845, is not a brass instrument but an alto oboe; it matches the English name English horn (1838), and its origin has not been explained.[4]
Timeline
- c. 1100 – Corn in the Chanson de Roland.[3][4]
- c. 1165 – The form cor in Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
- c. 1354 – The Livre du roy Modus uses it of a stag's tine.[2]
- 1420 – The metal hunting horn.[2]
- 1675 – A horn player.[2]
- 1810 – Orchestral horns.[2]
- 1845 – Bescherelle records cor anglais.[4]
Meanings
Noun
- A horn, a wind instrument originally made from a hollowed horn, used for signals and calls: le cor de Roland, cor des Alpes.[8][2]
- A brass instrument with a coiled tube ending in a bell, especially the hunting horn, cor de chasse.[8][3]
- (music) An orchestral horn: cor d'harmonie “French horn”, cor anglais “cor anglais, English horn”.[8][2][4]
- A horn player in an orchestra.[2]
- (hunting) A tine of a stag's antlers: un cerf dix cors.[2][4]
cor2 corn on the foot
Etymology tree of cor2
From the same root · cor2
Pronunciation
- /kɔʁ/[1]
Forms
cor m (plural cors)[1]
Etymology
The word for the corn on the foot is inherited from Old French corn (“horn, horny matter”), inherited from Latin cornū (“horn”), narrowed in sense.[9][8][4] Bloch and Wartburg derive it from the Latin noun used of the horny substance.[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Littré quotes the surgeon Ambroise Paré (16th century), who explains the name: the hard skin of these swellings is “like the horn of a lantern; that is why they are called cors”.[7]
Semantic evolution
While corne generally took over the sense “horny matter”, cor remained as the name of the hard growths on the feet.[4] In the dialects it is now the usual word, competing with names such as œil d'agace “magpie's eye” in Lorraine and French-speaking Switzerland and nid d'agace in Picardy, which compare with French œil-de-perdrix and German Hühnerauge (“hen's eye”).[5]
Timeline
- 1575 – First record of the sense “corn on the foot”; the Petit Robert and the GLLF date it to 1573, in Du Puys.[9][4][8][2]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
Usage notes
À cor et à cri is now used figuratively of asking for something loudly and insistently: réclamer quelque chose à cor et à cri.[8][2][4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c d e 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
Related etymologies
Cite this entry
“Cor.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/cor. Accessed 14 Nov. 2026.
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