corbeille

Forms

corbeille f (plural corbeilles)^[1] Old French corbeille, corbeil, corbele, Anglo-Norman also curbeyle and corbail.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French corbeille, inherited from Late Latin corbicula (“light wicker basket”),^[3][4][5] a diminutive of corbis (“basket”).^[3][6][7] Rey places the Latin word in a series of words of Mediterranean origin for woven objects, many of them used on the farm.^[5] Wiktionary instead connects it with a Germanic word, Proto-Germanic *kurbaz (“basket”), through Frankish.^[1]

The simple Latin word survives in Italian corba and Old Occitan corba, while the diminutive is found only in French.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1160 in Floire et Blancheflor for a light basket;^[3] Littré quotes the same text, where large baskets are filled with flowers (Et corbeilles grandes emplir), and the Bataille d'Aliscans, where a basket is found holding over a hundred loaves.^[8]

Semantic evolution

As often with names of containers, the word also came to mean what the basket holds.^[5] The corbeille de mariage (1762) was the set of gifts the bridegroom sent to his bride, at first laid out in a basket; the Académie then used la corbeille alone for these jewels.^[3][5] Medieval inventories quoted by Littré show baskets of silver for the table and for alms in the 14th and 15th centuries.^[8]

From the shape came technical senses: the bell of a capital in architecture (1690) and a round flower bed in gardening (1798).^[3][5] In the 19th century it named the railed circular space reserved for the brokers at the Paris Bourse (1848) and the balcony just above the stalls in a theatre (1883);^[5] Quemada notes datings of 1869 and 1886 for the Bourse sense in other dictionaries.^[9] Two plants were named corbeille d'or (1829) and corbeille d'argent (1867, Hugo).^[3][5] The Petit Robert records the modern computing sense, the wastebasket icon into which files to be deleted are put.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1160 – First record, in Floire et Blancheflor, for a light basket.^[3]
• 13th century – The diminutive corbeillon, later corbillon, is formed.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière uses it in architecture.^[3]
• 1762 – The Académie records la corbeille for the bride's gifts.^[3][5]
• 1798 – The Académie records the flower-bed sense.^[3]
• 1829 – Corbeille d'or is recorded by Boiste.^[3]
• 1848 – First use for the brokers' ring at the Bourse.^[5]
• 1883 – First use for a theatre balcony.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A light basket, usually without handles, of wicker or other material: corbeille à pain, corbeille à papier (a wastebasket).^[10][11][12]
2. The contents of such a basket: une corbeille de fruits.^[10][13][12]
3. (dated) Corbeille de mariage: the wedding presents given by the bridegroom to his bride.^[10][8]
4. (architecture) The bell of a capital, between the astragal and the abacus.^[10][3]
5. (gardening) A round or oval flower bed.^[10]
6. (finance) At the stock exchange, the railed circular space where the brokers dealt.^[10][11]
7. (theatre) The balcony immediately above the stalls.^[10][11]
8. (computing) The recycle bin, the icon where files to be deleted are put.^[10][12][1]
9. Corbeille d'or, corbeille d'argent: names of the plants alyssum and candytuft.^[10][3]

Word family

• corbillon

Related words

• Latin corbis

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1179b
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
13. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse