corneille

Forms

corneille f (plural corneilles)^[1] Old French corneille, cornaille and cornille.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin *cornicula, a form of Classical Latin cornīcula (“little crow”), a diminutive of cornīx (“crow”).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} It replaced cornille, from the Classical Latin form, which lives on in the dialects of the west, the centre and Burgundy.^[5][6]

With corvus (“raven”), the Latin word belongs to a group of expressive words built on a base ⟨kor-⟩, which varies from language to language, as in Ancient Greek κορώνη (korṓnē, “crow”) and κόραξ (kórax, “raven”).^[5][2]

Cognate with Occitan cornelha, Catalan cornella and Spanish corneja; Italian cornacchia has another suffix.^[2][9][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval (1174–1187), naming the crow.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

In a great many northern Gallo-Romance dialects, Walloon, Picard and Norman among them, the word came to mean the raven, with the suffix -aille.^[6] Anglo-Norman used it for the crow and the raven, as a surname, and for a white crow, something exceptional.^[3]

The bird gave several phrases.^[5] Bayer aux corneilles, to gape idly into the air, may be explained by its variant comme une corneille qui abat des noix, the bird standing for clumsiness and helplessness;^[5][2] Des Périers already has comme une corneille qui abat noix in the 16th century.^[5][2] In classical French a writer who plagiarized another was called la corneille d'Ésope (or d'Horace), after the fable of the bird decked in borrowed feathers; the Académie still recorded the phrase from 1798 to 1878.^[5][4]

Timeline

• 1174–1187 – First record, in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval.^[4]
• 13th century – Cornaille and cornille in the Roman de Renart.^[2]
• 16th century – Des Périers has comme une corneille qui abat noix.^[2]
• 1798–1878 – The Académie records la corneille d'Ésope.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crow, a bird of the genus Corvus, smaller than the raven, with dull black or grey plumage: corneille noire, corneille mantelée.^[10][4][2]
2. Bayer aux corneilles: to stand gaping into the air, to idle.^[10][2][11]
3. (dated) La corneille d'Ésope: a writer who borrows from others, someone decked in borrowed plumes.^[4][2]

Related words

• corbeau
• Latin cornīx

Usage notes

Littré also has a separate corneille, a botanical name of the loosestrife (lysimachie).^[2] The surname Corneille comes from the name of Saint Cornelius or from the bird, as a nickname for a chatterer.^[10][5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1190a
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse