courroie

Forms

courroie f (plural courroies)^[1] Old French curreie, correie, corroie; the spelling courroie is found about 1268.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman coreie, cureie, curaie and other spellings.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French curreie, inherited from Latin corrigia (“shoelace, thong, whip”).^[3][5][6][1] The modern form, found about 1268, is a refashioning of the ending of the older one.^[7] Rey suggests that the Latin word may belong to a vocabulary shared by Italic and Celtic, comparing Old Irish conriug (“I bind together”), and that, given its technical meaning, Latin may have taken it from Gaulish.^[7] Littré connected it with Latin corrigō (“to correct”).^[8]

Cognate with Italian correggia, Spanish correa and Old Occitan correja.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as curreie in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), for a leather strap: Les mains li lient a curreies de cerf “they tie his hands with straps of deer hide”.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The word names a band of strong, flexible material, usually leather, used to tie or fasten things, and is sometimes used figuratively for a bond or tie.^[7][3] In the 13th century Paris leather-workers made courroies à ceindre, straps worn as belts.^[8] Several figurative phrases grew out of the image of the strap: allonger la courroie “to make one's resources go further” and also “to stretch the profits of one's position”, serrer la courroie à quelqu'un “to cut someone's allowance”, and the proverb faire du cuir d'autrui large courroie “to be generous with other people's money”.^[8]

With industrial machinery, it came to name a driving belt (1845, Bescherelle).^[3][7] Courroie de transmission (1845) is also used by metaphor for anything that passes something on or links people or things.^[7][3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Curreie appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[3][2]
• c. 1268 – The form courroie is found in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[3]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the mechanical sense and courroie de transmission.^[3][7]
• 1863 – Littré records the driving belt of machines.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strap, a narrow band of leather or other strong, flexible material used to tie or fasten: resserrer la courroie d'une valise.^[9][3]
2. A belt, a closed band carrying rotation from one poulie to another: courroie de transmission, courroie de ventilateur.^[9][3]
3. (figurative) Courroie de transmission: an intermediary that passes on orders or ideas.^[7][3]

Related words

• Latin corrigia

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1221a
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert