coutellerie

Forms

coutellerie f (countable and uncountable, plural coutelleries)^[1] Old French coutelerie,^[2][3] Anglo-Norman cotellerie.^[4] Middle French also coustellerie.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French coutelerie, formed from Old French coutel (“knife”) + -erie.^[6][1][7] The Old French noun, the old form of couteau, is from Latin cultellus (“small knife”), a diminutive of culter (“knife, ploughshare”).^[8][9][10]

The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert, the GLLF and Littré derive it instead from coutelier.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers (about 1268) uses it for the cutler's trade, knife-making: a cutler may not work on feast days en chose qui apartiegne a son mestier de coutelerie “in anything belonging to his trade of cutlery”.^[6][14][3]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the making of knives, and by about 1419 the goods made by cutlers.^[6][13] Cotgrave records it in 1611 for the place where knives are made and sold.^[6][15] Today it covers the industry and its products, knives, scissors, razors and other cutting tools, and the workshop or shop.^[12][7] In Quebec it has also meant a full set of table cutlery in a case.^[15][16]

English cutlery was borrowed from the Old French word in the mid-14th century, first for the cutler's craft.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1268 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers uses it for knife-making.^[6][8]
• mid-14th century – English cutlery is borrowed from the Old French word.^[9]
• 1419 – A Tournai document uses it for the cutlers' wares.^[6]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the sense “place where knives are made and sold”.^[6][13]

Meanings

Noun

1. The making of knives and other cutting tools, the cutler's trade.^[12][6][16]
2. The products of this industry: knives, ciseaux, rasoirs: un rayon de coutellerie.^[12][7][16]
3. A workshop where knives are made, or a shop where they are sold.^[12][16][17]
4. (Quebec) A set of table cutlery kept in a case.^[16][15]

Related words

• couteau
• coutelier
• coutelas
• Latin cultellus
• English cutlery

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner
3. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
4. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
5. ^ FROLEX 3.0, lexique morphologique du français médiéval (IXe–XVe s.), Base de français médiéval, ENS de Lyon (from the BFM, the Nouveau Corpus d'Amsterdam and the DMF), github.com/sheiden/Medieval-French-Language-Toolkit
6. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
7. ^ a b c Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1500a
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
14. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
15. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
16. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
17. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)