croissant

Forms

croissant m (plural croissants)^[1] Old French croisant, earlier creissant;^[1][2] Anglo-Norman cressant.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is the present participle from French croître (“to grow”), used as a noun and an adjective.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} Wiktionary traces the participle through Old French croisant and creissant to Latin crēscentem, the present participle of crēscō (“to grow, increase”).^[1] The moon is called so because it is growing in one of the phases when it has this shape.^[8]

The pastry sense translates German Hörnchen (“little horn”), the name of a pastry made in Vienna.^[5][6][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Partonopeus de Blois (about 1180), names the time from the new moon to the full moon, as opposed to the waning: Et les croisans et les decors.^[3][8][5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “waxing period of the moon” has gone; from 1223 the noun names the curved shape of the visible part of the moon at the start and end of its cycle.^[5][3] By analogy it named crescent-shaped objects (about 1260), and the crescent as the emblem of the Turkish Empire (1674) and of Islam; the Croissant-Rouge is the Muslim counterpart of the Red Cross, and in history Croissant fertile is the alluvial plain of the Middle East where farming began.^[5][3][9]

The pastry is recorded in 1850 by the DHLF and in 1863 by Littré.^[5][3][9] Bloch and Wartburg say the first croissants were made in Vienna to celebrate the victory over the Turks of 1689;^[6][5] Rey dates that victory to 1683, calls the story of the Viennese bakers a legend, and credits an Austrian baker, Zang, with first selling them in France about 1840, the Exhibition of 1867 making them popular.^[6][5] Etymonline dates English croissant to 1872 and credits August Zang with bringing it to Paris in 1846.^[10]

The adjective “growing, increasing” is recorded from 1265.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – Partonopeus de Blois uses it for the waxing of the moon.^[3]
• 1223 – Gautier de Coinci uses it for the crescent shape of the moon.^[3][5]
• c. 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers uses it for a crescent-shaped object.^[3]
• 1265 – First record of the adjective.^[9]
• 1674 – Boileau uses it for the emblem of the Turkish Empire.^[3][5]
• 1850 – The pastry sense is recorded.^[5]
• 1863 – Littré records the pastry.^[3][9]
• 1872 – English borrows croissant for the pastry.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The crescent shape of the moon while it waxes or wanes: un croissant de lune.^[9][1]
2. A crescent-shaped object or figure.^[9][3]
3. The crescent as the emblem of islam and of the Turkish Empire: le Croissant-Rouge.^[9][5]
4. (heraldry) A crescent as a charge.^[9][1]
5. A croissant, a crescent-shaped roll of puff pastry.^[9][11]
6. (obsolete) The waxing of the moon, from the new moon to the full moon.^[3][5]

Adjective

1. growing, increasing: en nombre croissant.^[9][8]
2. (mathematics) Of a function, varying in the same direction as its variable: fonction croissante.^[9]

Word family

• croissanterie
• croissandwich

Related words

• croître
• croissance
• décroissant
• Latin crēscō
• English crescent

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1324a
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)