crible

Forms

crible m (plural cribles)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin criblum (5th century), a form of cribrum (“sieve”) altered by dissimilation.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word belongs to a large group of words from the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *krei- (“to separate, sift”), found in Greek, Italic, Celtic and Germanic.^[3]

Cognate with Spanish cribo and criba;^[4] Italian crivello and Old Occitan crivel come from the derivative cribellum.^[4] Among the dialects, Walloon has crîle.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the 13th century, in a manuscript of the poem De l'oustillement au villain, for a sieve among a peasant's tools.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Early, by the end of the 13th century, the word took a figurative value, in a text of Rutebeuf and in the phrase passer au crible “to examine closely, to sort the true from the false”.^[3][2][7] Comparisons such as percé comme un crible “riddled with holes”, frequent in classical French, have since been lost.^[3][6]

The mathematical sense, a method for sorting out numbers such as the crible d'Ératosthène, is recorded from 1832.^[7]

Timeline

• 13th century – First recorded, in De l'oustillement au villain.^[2]
• Late 13th century – Rutebeuf uses it figuratively.^[2][7]
• 14th century – The derivative criblure appears.^[4]
• 1556 – Cribleur is recorded.^[4]
• 1573 – Criblage is recorded.^[4]
• 1832 – The mathematical sense is recorded by Raymond.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sieve or riddle, a device with many holes for sorting things of different sizes.^[8][2][1]
2. (figurative) Something that sorts or selects: passer au crible, to examine in detail: passer un rapport au crible.^[8][7]
3. (mathematics) A sieve, an algorithm that lists the numbers below a given number having some property, as the crible d'Ératosthène.^[8][7]

Word family

• cribleur
• criblure
• criblage

Related words

• cribler
• Latin cribrum

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1334b
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert