croûte

Forms

croûte f (plural croûtes)^[1] Old French croste, cruste and crouste; the spelling croûte dates from the 17th century.^[2][1][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French crouste, inherited from Old French croste, inherited from Latin crusta (“hard outer covering, crust (of bread, of a wound), inlaid plaque”).^[2][4][1][5] The circumflex marks the loss of the ⟨s⟩.^[1][3] The Latin word has been compared with Ancient Greek κρύος (krúos, “icy cold”), Old Norse hrjósa (“to shiver”) and Latvian kreve (“crust (of a glacier)”);^[4] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *krustós (“hardened”), from *krews- (“to form a crust, begin to freeze”).^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan crosta, Italian crosta, Spanish costra, Portuguese crosta and Romanian crustă.^[6][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the 11th-century glosses of Rashi, is croste of blood, a scab.^[2][4] The sense of the pastry around a pâté follows about 1165 (Gautier d'Arras), and the crust of bread at the end of the 12th century.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

From a crust of blood the word became a medical term (1314, Henri de Mondeville), then named any hardened surface layer on something (1690), notably the earth's crust, croûte terrestre (1855).^[2][4] Its figurative use for a superficial layer, as a croûte of learning (about 1230), gave way to vernis as the word grew pejorative.^[4][2]

Other familiar figurative senses lasted: a bad painting (1757, from 1730 “a fake picture”), from a coat of paint daubed on the canvas, and a narrow-minded, routine-bound person, vieille croûte (1844), like a useless old crust.^[4][2] In cooking, by contrast, it is not pejorative: casser la croûte “to have a bite to eat” is recorded from 1878 and gagner sa croûte “to earn one's living” from 1900, while the pastry sense gave pâté en croûte.^[4][7][2]

Timeline

• 11th century – Croste of blood, in the glosses of Rashi.^[2]
• c. 1165 – Pastry around a pâté, in Gautier d'Arras's Eracle.^[2]
• Late 12th century – The crust of bread, in the Moniage Guillaume.^[2]
• 1314 – A medical term, in Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie.^[2][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records the general sense “hard outer layer”.^[2]
• 1723 – Cuir en croûte “undressed leather” in Savary des Bruslons.^[2]
• 1757 – First used of a bad painting.^[2][4]
• 1844 – Vieille croûte “old fogey” in Vidocq.^[2][4]
• 1855 – Croûte terrestre in Nerval's Aurélia.^[2][4]
• 1878 – Casser la croûte “to have a snack” is recorded.^[4][7]
• 1900 – Gagner sa croûte “to earn one's living” is recorded.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The crust of bread, hardened in baking; also a piece of stale bread.^[7][9]
2. Casser la croûte (familiar): to have a bite to eat;^[7][10] gagner sa croûte: to earn one's living.^[7][10]
3. Cooked pastry around a pâté or vol-au-vent: pâté en croûte.^[7][10]
4. (cooking) A dish served on slices of bread or pastry: croûte au fromage.^[7][9]
5. The rind of a cheese.^[7][9]
6. A hardened surface layer on something: la croûte terrestre “the earth's crust”.^[10][9]
7. A scab on a wound.^[9][10][1]
8. (familiar) A bad painting, a daub.^[10][9]
9. (familiar) A dull person stuck in routine.^[9][2]
10. (leather) The flesh side of a split hide, and the leather tanned from it.^[9][2]

Word family

• écroûter
• croûton
• encroûter
• croûter

Related words

• croustade
• croustiller
• crustacé
• incruster
• Latin crusta

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1371a
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)