Etymologically
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court

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court1 short

Pronunciation

Forms

court (feminine courte, masculine plural courts, feminine plural courtes)[1] Old French curt (1080), cort (1155); court from the 13th century.[2][3]

Etymology

The adjective “short” is inherited from Old French curt, inherited from Latin curtus (“shortened, docked; incomplete, insufficient”).[4][2][5][6][7][1] Rey traces “curtus” to the Indo-European root “*(s)ker-” “to cut, separate”, also behind corium (“hide”) (see cuir) and carō (“flesh”) (see chair).[2] Where Latin said brevis, “court” became the everyday word, the opposite of long.[2]

Cognate with Italian corto, Spanish corto, Portuguese curto, Catalan curt, Old Occitan cort and Romanian scurt.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) curt means of little length: curte la cuisse, of a horse, and les hanstes sont curtes, the spear shafts are short.[4][9]

Semantic evolution

The sense “of short duration” is in Wace (1155, corte duree), and “near in time” in a cort terme (late 12th century).[4][2] Adverbial uses are early: tenir qqn de court “to keep a tight rein on someone” (about 1205), pour le faire court (about 1450), couper court (15th century).[4] Rabelais has avoir la mémoire courte (1532); être court de “to lack” (1556) gave être à court de (Flaubert, 1862), and pris de court is recorded in 1660.[4] Short-sightedness gave vues courtes, narrow views (1690).[4] The word has gradually ceased to describe people, for whom petit is used, except in phrases such as court sur pattes; in sub-Saharan Africa and Lebanon it can still mean “small”.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Curt, Chanson de Roland.[4]
  • 1155 – Corte duree, Wace.[4]
  • c. 1205 – Tenir de court, Roman de Renart.[4]
  • 1532 – Avoir la mémoire courte, Rabelais.[4]
  • 1660 – Pris de court, Oudin.[4]
  • 1862 – Être à court de, Flaubert.[4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. short, of little length: cheveux courts, une robe courte, le plus court chemin.[10][4]
  2. Of little duration, brief: un court séjour, à court terme, avoir la mémoire courte.[10][4]
  3. Insufficient, limited: avoir la vue courte, c'est un peu court.[10][2]

Adverb

  1. Short: couper les cheveux court, s'arrêter court, couper court à, to cut short.[11][4]
  2. À court de: short of, out of, prendre de court, to catch unawares, tenir de court, to keep on a tight rein.[11][4]

Word family

  • courtaud
  • écourter
  • raccourcir
  • accourcir
  • court-circuit
  • court-bouillon

court2 tennis court

Pronunciation

Forms

court m (plural courts)[1]

Etymology

The tennis court is borrowed from English court, itself from Old French “court” “courtyard”, now cour.[6][10][5][1] It is thus a doublet of “cour” and cohorte.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1880, in Petiot.[6][10] Bloch and Wartburg date it to 1900.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tennis court: court en terre battue, court central.[10][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1585b
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)