crasse

Forms

crasse f (feminine only, feminine plural crasses)^[1] The masculine of the Old French adjective was cras, which lasted until the 17th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French crasse, the feminine form of the Old French adjective cras, inherited from Latin crassus (“thick, fat, coarse”).^[4][5][1] The noun is the adjective used as a substantive.^[4][2] Bloch and Wartburg instead treat the word as borrowed from the feminine of the Latin adjective.^[6] Rey describes the Latin word as expressive in origin, the opposite of liquidus, tenuis and macer.^[2]

It is a doublet of gras, from the same Latin adjective.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The adjective is first recorded in 1176–1187 in a version of the Song of Songs, meaning “plump, well fed”.^[4] The noun is dated about 1327 by Bloch and Wartburg; the TLFi's first quotation, from a 15th-century medical text of Namur, has le crasse de sons “the coarsest part of the bran”.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective, cras, crasse “thick, dense, fat” lasted until the 17th century, mostly in the feminine and especially in medicine, where humeurs crasses were thick bodily humours.^[2][4] From the 13th century it also meant “base, filthy”.^[4] Today it survives mainly in ignorance crasse, recorded from the 14th century according to Bloch and Wartburg and in Du Bellay in 1549, a calque of Saint Jerome's crassa rusticitas.^[4][6][2]

The noun first meant the coarsest part of something and was narrowed to a layer of dirt.^[2] Its figurative senses, “lack of refinement” (Cotgrave, 1611) and “sordid avarice” (Boileau, 1666), have gone out of use.^[4][2] With an article, une crasse is technically the dross of a molten metal (1611).^[4][2] The familiar faire des crasses à quelqu'un “to play dirty tricks on someone” is found in a letter of Flaubert of 1853;^[4][7] the Petit Robert dates it to 1843, with a sense “lack of politeness” from 1826.^[8]

The English adjective crass was taken from French in the 1540s.^[9]

Timeline

• 1176–1187 – The adjective crasse “plump, well fed” is recorded.^[4]
• 13th century – Hystore Job uses it for “base, filthy”.^[4][10]
• c. 1327 – The noun is recorded, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[6]
• 15th century – Le crasse de sons “the coarsest part of the bran” in a Namur medical text.^[4]
• 1540s – English borrows the adjective as crass.^[9]
• 1546 – Charles Estienne writes of the crasse (thick) membrane of the brain.^[4]
• 1549 – Du Bellay writes ignorance crasse.^[4]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the senses “dross of metal” and “boorishness”.^[4]
• 1666 – Boileau uses it for “sordid avarice”.^[4]
• 1853 – Flaubert writes faire des crasses “to play dirty tricks”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (feminine only; history of medicine) Thick and viscous: humeur crasse.^[8][4]
2. (figurative) Gross, inexcusable, crass, chiefly in ignorance crasse.^[8][4]
3. (of humour) Dirty, filthy.^[1]

Noun

1. A layer of dirt that forms on the skin, on linen or on objects: ses mains étaient noires de crasse.^[8][4]
2. (technical) dross or slag of a molten metal.^[8][4]
3. (familiar) A dirty trick: faire une crasse à quelqu'un.^[8][1]

Word family

• crasser
• crasseux
• crassier
• décrasser
• encrasser

Related words

• gras
• Latin crassus
• English crass

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1280a
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse