fougère

Forms

fougère f (plural fougères)^[1] Old French fulgiere, fouchiere, feuchiere, fougiere and feugiere.^[2][3][4][5] The spelling fougère dates from 1600 (Olivier de Serres).^[4][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fulgiere, inherited from Vulgar Latin *filicāria (“fern thicket”), a derivative of filix (“fern”).^[2][6][7][3] The word is recorded in Medieval Latin in 892 with the sense “fern-brake”.^[2][3] The name of the place passed to the plant because ferns usually grow in large stands.^[2][7] The vowel /u/ is probably dialectal, perhaps from the west of France.^[2] Rey finds no known origin for the Latin noun;^[3] Littré had connected it with fīlum (“thread”), from the fibrous nature of the plant.^[8]

Old Occitan falguiera likewise meant both “fern thicket” and “fern”;^[7] compare Catalan falguera, Occitan falguièra and Galician folgueira.^[1] The underived Latin word survives in Italian felce, Old Occitan feuze and the dialects of the south-west, Languedoc, Provence and the Franco-Provençal area.^[7] Northern dialect forms include Walloon fèchîre.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1140 as fulgiere in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, naming the fern.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Since the ash of ferns was used in making glass, the word named a drinking glass: voirres de feuchiere in the 15th century, verre de fougère in 1690 and plain fougère in 1671 (Boileau), now classical usage.^[3][4][8] In modern botany it names a precise class of vascular plants, including many fossil forms.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Fulgiere appears in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis.^[2]
• c. 1175 – Chrétien de Troyes writes fouchiere, feuchiere and fougiere.^[4][3]
• 13th century – The Roman de la Rose mentions glass made from fern.^[8]
• 1600 – Olivier de Serres spells it fougère.^[4][3]
• 1611 – The derivative fougeraie is recorded.^[3][7]
• 1671 – Boileau uses fougère for a drinking glass.^[3][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records verre de fougère.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fern, a vascular plant with finely divided leaves (fronds) that reproduces by spores: fougère mâle, fougères arborescentes.^[9][2]
2. (classical) A drinking glass, from the fern ash used in glassmaking.^[4][3]

Word family

• fougeraie
• fougerole

Related words

• Latin filix

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 h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 514b
7. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert