fourmi

Forms

fourmi f (plural fourmis)^[1] Old French furmiz, formiz, fromiz, formi (masculine) and formie (feminine).^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French formi, inherited from Vulgar Latin *formīcus, a masculine remaking of formīca (“ant”).^[2][6][4][1] Beside it Old French had formie, feminine, from the Latin word itself, and furmiz, masculine and feminine, from a Vulgar Latin *formice.^[2][6] Bloch and Wartburg divide Gallo-Romance in three: Franco-Provençal, Provence and Languedoc continue the Latin word (Old Occitan formiga); Walloon, Picard, Dauphiné and Rouergue go back to the later form in -ice; the rest of the territory has the masculine form.^[6][3] Rey explains the Latin word as probably a dissimilation of an older stem in m-, the one seen in the Greek word for ant.^[3]

Cognate with Italian formica, Catalan formiga, Spanish hormiga, Portuguese formiga and Romanian furnică.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) names the ant furmiz.^[2][3] Littré quotes Marie de France: Dist la fromiz : or chante à mel.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word was usually masculine until the 17th century: Cotgrave in 1611 still treats it as masculine, Richelet in 1680 as feminine, and the form fourmi is recorded from 1550, in Ronsard.^[2][3][4]

The ant's proverbial industry made c'est une fourmi mean a hard-working, thrifty person (before 1664, La Rochefoucauld), a comparison popularized by La Fontaine; compare un travail de fourmi.^[2][3] Avoir des fourmis dans les jambes “to have pins and needles” is recorded in 1831, from the feeling of ants running over the skin.^[2][3] The ant was also, with the mite, a symbol of smallness: se faire plus petit qu'une fourmi.^[3][5] In the plural it can be used of a crowd of people, and African French has fourmi rouge for a large species with a painful sting.^[3]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire uses furmiz.^[2]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini writes formis.^[4][5]
• 1550 – Ronsard uses the spelling fourmi.^[3][4]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it as masculine.^[2]
• before 1664 – La Rochefoucauld uses it for a hard-working person.^[2]
• 1680 – Richelet records it as feminine.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records fourmis blanches for termites.^[4]
• 1831 – Avoir des fourmis dans les jambes appears in Paul de Kock.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An ant, a small social insect living in colonies: une fourmi ailée.^[8][2]
2. (figurative) A hard-working, thrifty person.^[2][4]
3. Avoir des fourmis dans les jambes: to have pins and needles.^[8][1]
4. Travail de fourmi: long, patient work.^[3]
5. Fourmis blanches (loosely): termites.^[8][4]

Word family

• fourmilier
• fourmilière
• fourmiller
• fourmi-lion

Related words

• Latin formīca

Usage notes

Littré notes that the masculine of Old French explains the spelling without final -e, kept when the word became feminine.^[5]

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 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 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. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert