Etymologically
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crème

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kʁɛm/[1]

Forms

crème f (plural crèmes)[1] Old French craime (about 1190), cresme (1261); crème from the 17th century[2][3][4]. The long vowel recalls the lost ⟨s⟩ of cresme.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French craime, inherited from Late Latin crāma (6th century, Venantius Fortunatus),[2][3][5][6] a word of Gaulish origin: from Gaulish;[2][3][5][1] Bloch and Wartburg compare Welsh crammen (“scab”).[5] It was crossed early with Church Latin Ecclesiastical Latin chrisma (“anointing oil”), from Greek, which gave chrême.[2][3][5][1] “Crama” replaced classical “cremor lactis”.[3] The word also lives in Rhaeto-Romance and northern Italian dialects.[5]

English cream comes from Old French.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Evrat's Genèse (about 1190) has craime for the fat that rises on milk.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Figuratively, la crème is the best part of something (Montaigne, 1580): la crème des hommes “the best of men”.[2][7][4] Cooking named preparations such as crème fouettée and crème chantilly, and also from 1802 creamy desserts.[4][7][3] Café à la crème (1822, café crème 1898) became familiar un crème.[3][1]

The invariable adjective crème means “cream-coloured”.[1] Derivatives include écrémer (14th century), crémeux (1578), crémier and crémerie (1849).[5]

Timeline

  • 6th century – Late Latin crama.[2][3]
  • c. 1190 – Craime.[2][6]
  • 1261 – Cresme (Rutebeuf).[2]
  • 1580 – “The best part” (Montaigne).[2][4]
  • 1822 – Café à la crème.[3]
  • 1849 – Crémerie.[5]
  • 1898 – Café crème.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Cream, the fat of milk: crème fraîche, crème fouettée.[7][1]
  2. A creamy dessert.[7]
  3. (Louisiana) Ice cream.[1]
  4. La crème de: the best of: la crème des hommes.[7][2]
  5. (colloquial) A white coffee, un crème.[1][3]

Adjective

  1. Cream-coloured (invariable).[1]

Word family

  • crémer
  • crémerie
  • crémeux
  • crémier
  • écrémer
  • écrémage

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g 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. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert