essaim

Forms

essaim m (plural essaims)^[1] Old French essain; the spelling essaim dates from the 16th century.^[2][3] Middle French also wrote essein, exain and essoin.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French essain, inherited from Latin exāmen (“swarm of bees”).^[5][6][7] The Latin noun belongs with exigō (“to drive out, expel”), made of ex- and agō (“to drive, lead”): it was first a group of young bees led out of the hive.^[3][7][8] It is the inherited doublet of the learned examen.^[1][8]

Cognate with Italian sciame, Old Occitan eissam, Catalan eixam, Spanish enjambre and Portuguese enxame.^[9][7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as essain in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique des ducs de Normandie (about 1175), meaning a swarm of bees.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the Latin sense, a swarm of bees leaving the hive.^[3] In the east of France it competed with jeton (13th century), and essaimer with jeter, on the same image.^[3][7] Figuratively it has meant a large moving crowd since about 1265, when Jean de Meun used it in the Roman de la Rose, and later a great number of things.^[3][2][4] It was extended to wasps and other social insects in 1864.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – Essain appears in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[5]
• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun uses it figuratively of a crowd.^[2][3]
• 1266 – The verb essamer “to swarm” is recorded.^[3]
• 16th century – The spelling essaim appears.^[2]
• 1864 – Littré records the sense “colony of social insects”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A swarm of bees leaving an overcrowded hive with a queen to found a new colony.^[5][10][11]
2. By extension, a swarm of other insects: un essaim de moustiques.^[10][12]
3. (figurative) A large crowd or number of people or things moving together.^[10][12][11]

Word family

• essaimer
• essaimage

Related words

• examen
• exiger
• Latin exāmen

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 257b
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)