excrément

Forms

excrément m (plural excréments)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin excrēmentum (“siftings, excretion, excrement”), a medical word,^[2][3][4][1] from excrētus, the past participle of excernō (“to sift, to evacuate”), from ex- and cernō (“to sift, distinguish”).^[3][4][5] Rey connects the verb with an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *krey- (“to sift”), also seen in crībrum, crīmen, certus and Ancient Greek κρίσις (krísis).^[3]

It is thus related to crible, crime, certes and crise.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1534 in Rabelais's Gargantua, in the physiological sense: Gargantua se purgeoit des excremens naturelz.^[2][3][5] Bloch and Wartburg give 1537.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The word first covered everything the body evacuates (faeces, urine, mucus, sweat), then narrowed to faeces.^[3][2] Ambroise Paré speaks of two kinds of excremens purged from the blood, and Palissy uses excrement de fer for iron slag.^[6]

From the idea of waste came a classical figurative use for a vile, contemptible person or thing: Malherbe's excrément de la terre (before 1628),^[2][3] taken up by La Fontaine (1668).^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1534 – Rabelais uses it in Gargantua.^[2]
• 1555 – The derivative excrémenteux appears.^[4]
• before 1628 – Malherbe's excrément de la terre “vile person”.^[2]
• 1668 – La Fontaine uses the figurative sense.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated) Any matter evacuated from the body by natural channels, as urine, sweat or mucus.^[8][2]
2. (usually plural) Faeces, excrement: des excréments de chien sur le trottoir.^[8][2][9]
3. (literary, figurative) A vile, worthless person, a piece of refuse.^[9][8][6]

Word family

• excrémenteux
• excrémentiel

Related words

• excrétion
• crible
• crime
• certes
• crise
• Latin excrēmentum

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b 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 c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)