femelle

Forms

femelle (plural femelles)^[1] Old French femele, also fumele.^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French femele, inherited from Latin fēmella (“young woman, girl”),^[1][3][4] a diminutive of fēmina (“woman”).^[3][5][6] Rey calls it a borrowing from Latin rather than an inherited word.^[7] In popular speech the Latin word was narrowed to the sense “female”.^[5]

Cognate with Old Occitan femela and Catalan femella.^[5] English female comes from the Old French word, its form later remodelled after male.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found between 1121 and 1134 in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire, for an animal of the female sex, and in the same text as an adjective, la femelle racine.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In feudal law and genealogy it meant a woman as an heir (about 1265, Livre de jostice).^[9][7][2] Outside these contexts it is used of women only as a slight: Marot wrote desloyalle fumelle in 1530.^[3][7]

As an adjective it is used in botany of the organ that gives the fruit, and in technical language (1678) of the part into which another fits, the opposite of mâle.^[2][7][9]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – Philippe de Thaon uses it as a noun and an adjective.^[3]
• c. 1265 – It is used of women in the Livre de jostice.^[9]
• 1530 – Marot uses it scornfully of a woman.^[3][7]
• 1678 – It appears as a technical term, opposed to mâle.^[9][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A female animal: la jument est la femelle du cheval.^[10][11][12]
2. (derogatory, sexist) A woman, a femme.^[11][12]

Adjective

1. Of an animal or a plant: female: un canari femelle.^[11][12]
2. (botany) Having only a pistil: fleur femelle.^[12]
3. (technology) Of a part into which a male part fits.^[12]

Related words

• féminin
• femme
• fille
• Latin fēmella
• English female

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 447b
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)