farineux

Forms

farineux (feminine farineuse, masculine plural farineux, feminine plural farineuses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin farīnōsus (“floury, like flour”), derived from farīna (“flour”).^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg, the GLLF and Wiktionary instead see it as formed from French farine + -eux modelled on the Latin word.^[5][6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1539, in the Triumphe de Dame Verolle, in the sense “looking like flour”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1550 it was applied to what contains or yields flour, in Hervé Fierabras's surgical treatise;^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg call it rare before the 18th century.^[5] The sense “covered with flour” is dated to 1690.^[3][6] The noun farineux, a starchy food, appears in Rousseau's Émile (1762), or in 1756 according to the Petit Robert.^[2][4] The sense “with the texture or taste of flour”, said of potatoes or fruit, is recorded by the Larousse of 1872.^[6]

Timeline

• 1539 – Farineux “looking like flour” in the Triumphe de Dame Verolle.^[2]
• 1550 – “Containing flour” in Hervé Fierabras.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records “covered with flour”.^[6]
• 1762 – Rousseau uses the noun in Émile.^[2]
• 1872 – The Larousse records the sense “floury in texture”.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That contains flour or, by extension, starch.^[4][7][2]
2. Covered with flour or with a whitish powder: des mains farineuses.^[4][7][8]
3. floury, mealy: having the texture or taste of flour, as a potato that crumbles when cooked: un melon farineux.^[4][7][1]

Noun

1. A starchy food, especially dried pulses such as beans, lentils and peas; féculent.^[4][9]

Related words

• farine
• enfariner
• farinacé
• Latin farīna

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b 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 c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)