cou

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ku/^[1]

Forms

cou m (plural cous)^[1] Old French singular col, plural cous, cou in the singular from about 1170, while col stayed usual until the 17th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is the old oblique plural “cous” of Old French col (see col), inherited from Latin collum (“neck”), earlier “collus”.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The neuter “collum” may have been drawn in by other neuter names of body parts, “collus” goes back to “*kol-so-s”, related either to the root Proto-Indo-European *kel- (“high”) or, more likely, to Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn”).^[3] “Cou” and “col” are doublets: “cou” kept the anatomical sense, “col” the collar and the narrow pass.^[2][3][5]

Cognate with Italian collo, Spanish cuello, Portuguese colo, Occitan col and Catalan coll.^[7][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie (about 1170) has cou in the singular for the part of the body joining the head to the trunk; the Chanson de Roland (1080) has col.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Jusqu'au cou “up to one's neck” is in Froissart (late 14th century), se jeter au cou de qqn in Corneille (1644) and la bride sur le cou “given free rein” in Vaugelas (before 1650).^[2][3] By analogy it was used for the neck of a bottle (1690), and it forms bird and plant names such as cou-rouge “robin” (1767).^[2] In Swiss French, Savoy and parts of Africa avoir mal au cou means to have a sore throat, a use from Franco-Provençal dialects.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Col, Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• c. 1170 – Singular cou, Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[2]
• late 14th century – Jusques au cou, Froissart.^[2]
• 1644 – Se jeter au cou de qqn, Corneille.^[2]
• 1690 – The neck of a bottle, Furetière.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The neck: un long cou, porter un collier au cou, se jeter au cou de qqn.^[8][1]
2. Jusqu'au cou: up to one's neck: être endetté jusqu'au cou.^[2][9]
3. (Switzerland) Throat: avoir mal au cou.^[3]
4. The neck (of a bottle, a vessel).^[2][3]

Word family

• accoler
• accolade
• encolure

Related words

• col
• collier
• Latin collum

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 911a
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF