duvet

Forms

duvet m (plural duvets)^[1] Older dumet (1473 dumect), still used in the 16th century and in western dialects.^[2][3] Old French dum and dun, 13th to early 14th century.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is from Middle French dumet, remade in a way the sources call unexplained.^[2][4][3] This form is recorded only from 1473, but matches Medieval Latin duma (about 1250, in Frederick II's treatise on hunting with birds).^[2][4] It is the diminutive in -et of Old French dum, an alteration after plume of dun.^[4][3][5] The form with /n/ was borrowed through the trade in down from Old Norse dúnn (“down”),^[4][3][5] which comes from Proto-Germanic *dūnaz (“down”).^[1] Germanic cognates are German Daune, Danish dun and English down.^[3][5][1] Littré, who knew the Norman form deumet, thought the Germanic word should have given a form with /n/ and saw a double change of the consonant to /m/ and to /v/.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears before 1278 in the Marques de Rome as a term for birds' down.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Long a rare or specialised word, duvet became current for the first feathers of young birds (1803, Chateaubriand).^[4][2] By analogy it named the soft fine hair that comes before the beard on a young man's face (1680, Richelet), the fine down of plants (1700) and the short fur of some four-legged animals (1760, Buffon).^[2][4] Bedding filled with down was already mentioned about 1398 in the Ménagier de Paris: un bon lit de duvet.^[6][7]

By metonymy it came to mean an eiderdown in some regions (Switzerland, Savoy, Lorraine, Belgium), from 1745 according to Rey, or from 1768 in a Neuchâtel newspaper according to the TLFi, and later, in general French, a down-filled sleeping bag (1934).^[4][2] English borrowed duvet in 1758 for a quilt stuffed with down.^[8]

Timeline

• Before 1278 – First record, in the Marques de Rome.^[2]
• c. 1398 – The Ménagier de Paris mentions a bed of down.^[6][7]
• 1473 – The older form dumect is recorded.^[2]
• 1573 – The derivative duveteux appears.^[4]
• 1611 – Duveté appears.^[4][3]
• 1680 – Richelet records the sense “first soft beard”.^[2]
• 1700 – Used in botany.^[2][4]
• 1758 – English borrows duvet for a down quilt.^[8]
• 1760 – Buffon uses it of the short fur of quadrupeds.^[2]
• 1768 – Used in western Switzerland for an eiderdown.^[2]
• 1803 – Chateaubriand uses it of the first feathers of young birds.^[2][4]
• 1934 – First used for a sleeping bag.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. Down, the small soft feathers of young birds and of the underside of adult birds, used to fill pillows and quilts.^[9][10][2]
2. Fine soft hair on the face of a young person, on some animals, or on plants and fruit such as the peach.^[11][10][2]
3. A down-filled sleeping bag.^[11][2][1]
4. (Belgium, Switzerland) An eiderdown or duvet.^[1][4]

Word family

• duveteux
• duveté
• duveter
• duvetine

Related words

• édredon
• plume
• Old Norse dúnn
• English down
• English duvet

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)