crochet

Forms

crochet m (plural crochets)^[1] Old French plural crokés (late 12th century); Anglo-Norman croket, kroket and crochette.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French croc (“hook”) + -et, a diminutive, with the /k/ palatalized before the suffix.^{[2][4][5][6][1]} The base noun (about 1120) is from Frankish *krōk (“hook”), which corresponds to Old Norse krókr.^[2][4][5] It was borrowed late enough to keep its final /k/, like Medieval Latin croccus (“hook”) in the 11th century.^[2][4] Etymonline and the REW take the base straight from the Old Norse word,^[7][8] and Wiktionary allows either source.^[1]

Littré compares Picard crouket.^[9] The French word was borrowed as Spanish corchete.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the plural crokés in the late 12th-century Aliscans, for an iron hook used to catch or hang something.^[2][6] The form crochet appears in Jean de Meun's part of the Roman de la Rose (1269–78): Lors va tout pendre à un crochet “then he goes and hangs it all on a hook”.^[2][9] Anglo-Norman has it from the third quarter of the 12th century.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It soon encroached on the senses of croc.^[4] From 1393 it named the sharp curved teeth of some animals, now chiefly in learned use (the fangs of a snake), and familiarly avoir les crochets meant “to be hungry”.^[2][4] The porter's carrying frame, crochets de portefaix (1539), lies behind vivre sur les crochets de (Regnard, 1694), now vivre aux crochets de “to live at someone's expense”.^[2][4]

By likeness of shape it named a brace linking lines in printing (1690) and the square bracket (1741).^[2][4] Rousseau used faire le crochet for an abrupt change of direction (before 1778), whence the sidestep in football and rugby (1901) and the hook in boxing (1907).^[4][2] The needlework sense, broder au crochet (1835), became one of the commonest.^[2][4] English borrowed it in 1846 for the work done with a hooked needle.^[7]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – The plural crokés appears in Aliscans.^[2]
• 1269–78 – Jean de Meun writes crochet.^[2]
• 1393 – The Ménagier de Paris uses it for an animal's fang.^[2]
• 1539 – Estienne records the porter's crochets.^[2]
• 1694 – Regnard writes sur mes crochets “at my expense”.^[2]
• 1741 – It names a typographic bracket.^[2][4]
• 1835 – The Académie records broder au crochet.^[2][4]
• 1846 – English borrows it for crochet work.^[7]
• 1907 – It is used in boxing.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hook, a bent piece of metal for hanging or holding something: Accroche ta veste au crochet.^[10][1]
2. A tool with a hooked end, such as a ragpicker's hook or a picklock.^[11][10]
3. A crochet hook, and the needlework done with it: faire du crochet.^[4][1]
4. The fang of a snake, or a sharp curved tooth.^[4][1]
5. (typography) A square bracket.^[1][2]
6. A detour, an abrupt change of direction: Il a fait un crochet par Lille.^[1][4]
7. (boxing) A hook punch: crochet du droit.^[1][2]
8. (football, rugby) A sidestep.^[1][4]
9. (architecture) A crocket.^[1]
10. Vivre aux crochets de quelqu'un: to live at someone's expense.^[4][1]

Word family

• crocheter

Related words

• croc
• croche
• crochu
• accrocher
• décrocher
• English crochet

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse