cuve

Forms

cuve f (plural cuves)^[1] Old French cuvhe (12th century) and cueve.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman couve, kuve and cuwe.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cuve, inherited from Latin cūpa (“large wooden vessel, cask”).^[2][1][5][6] The Latin word had a geminated variant cuppa, which gave coupe¹, so it is a doublet of cuve.^[7][1][8] Rey reports that the Latin word has been compared, as a hypothesis, with Sanskrit and Greek words for a hole or well and a drinking cup.^[7]

Cognate with Occitan cub, Catalan cuba, Spanish cuba, Portuguese cuba and Romanian cupă.^[8][6] Berry has cube and cue, Walloon coûve.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in the 11th century in the French glosses of Rashi, as cuve.^[2][9] It named a large vat or tub.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

The cuve was a large wooden vessel made like a cask but round or oval.^[7] From the 12th to the 17th century it was also the bathtub, made of copper rather than wood from the 15th century, until the sabotière and then the baignoire replaced it; in the old Catholic liturgy it served for baptism by immersion.^[7]

The word remained in everyday use in winemaking, for the vat in which the grapes ferment.^[7][10] By analogy it came to name large containers with a special purpose in industry, photography, engraving and chemistry,^[7][10] such as the cuve à mercure (1834).^[10] Littré records à fond de cuve “shaped like a deep vat” and, figuratively, a meal eaten à fond de cuve, a hearty one.^[3]

Timeline

• 11th century – Cuve appears in Rashi's glosses.^[2]
• 12th century – Spelled cuvhe in the Glossary of Tours.^[2][9]
• c. 1135 – Anglo-Norman records of the word, meaning “vat, tub”.^[4]
• 12th–17th century – The cuve serves as a bathtub.^[7]
• 1834 – Cuve à eau and cuve à mercure are recorded in Landais.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large vat of wood or masonry in which grapes are left to ferment.^[8][2][10]
2. A similar container used in various industries, as by dyers or brewers.^[8][10]
3. A tank for storing a liquid, especially fuel oil: cuve à mazout.^[8][10]
4. (photography) A tank for developing films or plates.^[10][8]

Word family

• cuveau
• cuvée
• cuver
• cuvette
• cuvier
• décuver
• encuver

Related words

• coupe¹
• Latin cūpa

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1548b
6. ^ a b 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ 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