daim

Forms

daim m (plural daims, feminine daine)^[1] Old French dain (about 1170), Anglo-Norman deyme (1320–50); dain long competed with daim.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French dain, inherited from Late Latin dāmus, a masculine form made to replace Classical Latin dāma, also written damma, meaning “fallow deer”.^[2][3][1] The Latin word is of foreign origin: Rey thinks it perhaps Celtic, comparing Irish dam allaid (“deer”), and rejects a link with domō (“to tame”);^[3] Bloch and Wartburg suggest an African origin, the GLLF a Libyan one.^[5][6]

Cognate with Italian damma, Old Occitan dam and Spanish dama.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes has dain about 1170 in Erec et Enide, for the fallow deer.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the word names a deer; by analogy it came to mean the animal's dressed skin and then soft suede leather.^[3][8] In the 19th century it was used figuratively of an elegant, vain and gullible man, and of a fool or dupe.^[3][6] The feminine daine is recorded from 1387, and daneau “fawn” from 1700; both are little used.^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Dain appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide.^[2]
• 1320–50 – Nicole Bozon writes deyme.^[2]
• 1387 – The feminine daine is recorded.^[5]
• before 1493 – Coquillart uses it of a foolish young man.^[6][7]
• 1700 – Daneau “young fallow deer” is recorded.^[3]
• 1835 – The slang sense “elegant man” is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. The fallow deer, a European deer with palmate antlers and a coat spotted with white; especially the male, the buck.^[8][9][10]
2. Soft suede leather; formerly, the dressed skin of the fallow deer.^[8][9][10]
3. (dated, familiar) An elegant, vain man; a dupe.^[6][3]

Word family

• daine

Usage notes

The final ⟨m⟩ is kept although the feminine daine was formed on the old spelling dain; in hunting the female is also called dine.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)