crypte

Forms

crypte f (plural cryptes)^[1] First written cripte; the spelling crypte is recorded from 1610.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin crypta (“crypt, vault, underground passage”), which is from Ancient Greek κρυπτή (kruptḗ, “underground vault”).^[2][4][1][5] The Greek noun comes from κρυπτός (kruptós, “hidden”), from the verb κρύπτω (krúptō, “to hide”).^[6][3] Rey compares Old Church Slavonic and Baltic words for “cover” and “heap up”.^[6]

The same Latin word, through Italian, gave grotte, a doublet of this word.^[1][4][7] Littré cites the Old Occitan crota and cropta from it as well.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

As cripte it is first recorded in the second half of the 14th century, in Jean des Preis's Geste de Liège, for a crypt.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

The word names an underground vault built beneath a church, usually as a burial place, and by extension any underground vault or chamber.^[2][6] The GLLF also gives the earlier sense of the underground places where the first Christians met and buried their dead.^[3]

By analogy of form it was taken into anatomy for a small, irregular cavity on the surface of an organ,^[6][9] and in 1845 into entomology for an insect that lives hidden in the eggs of other insects.^[6] Littré noted that anatomists made the word masculine in its medical sense, against general usage.^[8]

Timeline

• Second half of the 14th century – Cripte appears in Jean des Preis's Geste de Liège.^[2][3]
• 1576 – The related adjective cryptique is borrowed from Latin.^[6]
• 1610 – The spelling crypte is recorded in Pierre Coton.^[2]
• 1845 – Used in entomology for an insect living hidden in other insects' eggs.^[6]
• 1866 – The Larousse records the extended sense “underground part of a building”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. An underground vault beneath a church, used as a burial place: la crypte de l'abbatiale.^[9][2]
2. (architecture) An underground chapel, often older than the church above it.^[9][3]
3. By extension, any underground vault or chamber.^[2][3]
4. (anatomy) A small irregular cavity on the surface of an organ: cryptes intestinales.^[9][6]

Related words

• grotte
• cryptique
• Latin crypta
• Ancient Greek κρύπτω (krúptō)
• English crypt

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b 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, 1384b
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert