corne

Forms

corne f (plural cornes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French corne, inherited from Vulgar Latin *corna, from Classical Latin cornua, the plural of Latin cornū (“horn”), taken as a feminine singular.^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The Latin singular gave cor.^[2][6][1] Rey traces the Latin word to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *ker- for things that stick out, also behind Latin cervus (“deer”) and Ancient Greek κέρας (kéras, “horn”).^[6][7]

Bloch and Wartburg note that the form is found only in Gallo-Romance and Rhaeto-Romance, and that part of the south kept a Gaulish word *banno, whence Old Occitan ban and bana.^[3] The plural form also became a singular in Catalan corna, Spanish cuerna and Portuguese corna “antlers”; elsewhere the singular lives on, as Italian corno, Spanish cuerno, Portuguese corno and Romanian corn.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1120 in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire, for the horn of a fabulous animal shaped like a horned beast.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the horns of animals, the word was used of imaginary beings, the devil and the unicorn first, then of antlers, the feelers of snails (about 1330) and the appendages of insects.^[6][2] As a symbol of power, especially virile power, horns became in derision the attribute of deceived husbands in the 15th century;^[6][2] the GLLF records the sense about 1462 in the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles and explains it by the spurs grafted onto the combs of capons, which grew like two horns.^[9]

The word also named pointed ends: the points of a mitre (1194–97), the horns of the crescent moon (about 1265), and the turned-down corner of a page.^[2][6] By metonymy it named objects first made of horn: the horn as a musical or warning instrument (about 1341), later the fog horn, corne de brume.^[2][6] Corne d'abondance (Amyot, 1559) renders the Latin cornucopia.^[2][6] From about 1340 it is also the hard substance of horns.^[2][6] A shoehorn, corne à chaussure, is recorded in 1827.^[6] Rey notes that corne has stayed far more alive than cor.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Philippe de Thaon uses it in his Bestiaire.^[2]
• 1194–97 – Used for the points of a mitre.^[2]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini uses it for the horns of the moon.^[2]
• 1330–32 – Used for a snail's feelers.^[2]
• c. 1340 – Used for horn as a material.^[2]
• c. 1341 – Machaut uses it for a musical instrument.^[2]
• 15th century – Horns become the sign of the deceived husband.^[2][6]
• 1559 – Corne d'abondance in Amyot.^[2]
• 1827 – Corne à chaussure “shoehorn” is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A horn of an animal: bêtes à cornes (cattle, horned beasts), prendre le taureau par les cornes (to take the bull by the horns).^[7][10][11]
2. The horns of the devil or of the unicorn, the feelers of a snail or insect.^[7][6]
3. (familiar) Porter des cornes: to be a cuckold.^[7][6]
4. Horn as a material.^[2][6]
5. Hardened skin, a callus.^[1]
6. A horn used as a signal: corne de brume (a fog horn).^[6]
7. A pointed corner, or a turned-down corner of a page, a dog-ear.^[6]
8. Corne d'abondance: a cornucopia.^[2][6]
9. Corne à chaussure: a shoehorn.^[6]

Word family

• corner
• cornet
• cornichon
• cornaline
• écorner
• corneur
• cornard
• cornemuse
• racornir
• cornier
• écornifleur

Related words

• cor
• licorne
• Latin cornū

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1191a
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette