fourche

Forms

fourche f (plural fourches)^[1] Old French forches (plural, late 11th century), furche (about 1140) and forche;^[2][3][4] fourche is a 13th-century respelling.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also has furke and fourke.^[5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French forche, inherited from Latin furca (“two-pronged fork, forked stick, gibbet”).^[3][7][2][4] The Latin word has no known origin.^[2][8]

Cognate with Italian forca, Spanish horca, Portuguese forca, Catalan forca, Occitan forca and Romanian furcă.^{[9][10][6][8]} The Latin word also lies behind Breton forc'h and the English word fork.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rashi's glosses (late 11th century) have the plural forches for forks and gallows.^[3][2] About 1140 Gaimar uses furches for the gibbet,^[3] and Littré quotes a 12th-century line about hanging as forches, on the gallows.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The sense “gibbet”, from a gallows made of two forked posts set in the ground, is the oldest, carried over from Latin; the phrase fourches patibulaires is recorded from 1690.^[2][11] Since the 12th century (Wace, 1160–1174) fourche has named the farm tool with a long handle and two or more prongs, and by likeness many two-branched things, such as the fork of a bicycle (1897).^[2][3]

From the late 12th century it was also used of anything that divides like a fork: a road (13th century), a tree.^[2][11] The Fourches Caudines (1690) are the narrow pass near Caudium where the defeated Romans had to go under the yoke, hence passer sous les fourches caudines “to submit to humiliating terms” (late 17th century).^[2][11] In Belgian French, and in the Congo, fourche is a free period in a school timetable.^[2]

Timeline

• late 11th century – Forches “forks, gallows” in Rashi's glosses.^[3][2]
• c. 1140 – Gaimar has furches “gibbet”.^[3]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses it for the farm tool.^[3][2]
• 13th century – The spelling fourche appears, and it is used of a fork in a road.^[2][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records fourches patibulaires and Fourches Caudines.^[2][11]
• 1897 – First used for the fork of a bicycle.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pitchfork, a farm tool with a long handle and two or more prongs: il retournait le foin avec sa fourche.^[8][3]
2. The fork of a bicycle or motorcycle, the two-branched part holding the front wheel.^[8][1]
3. A place where something divides in two, as a road or a tree; the crotch of a pair of trousers.^[8][11][1]
4. (historical) Fourches patibulaires: a gibbet made of two forked posts and a crossbeam.^[8][2]
5. Passer sous les fourches caudines: to have to accept humiliating terms.^[2][1]
6. (Belgium) A free period in a school timetable.^[2]

Word family

• fourchette
• fourcher
• fourchu
• fourchée
• fourchon
• enfourcher

Related words

• carrefour
• Latin furca

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 884b
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse