genêt

Forms

genêt m (plural genêts)^[1] Old French genest (12th century) and the feminine geneste (about 1175); the spelling genêt dates from 1600.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is a masculine back-formation from Old French geneste (“broom”), the feminine Old French noun, which goes back to Latin genesta, a variant of genista.^[2][4][5][6] The change of gender, which spread from the western part of Gallo-Romance, came about because the feminine was felt to be a collective noun, as with Old French fueil beside fueille;^[2][4][5] the TLFi compares the back-formations fêtu and épi.^[2] The feminine form still lives in the eastern dialects of northern France.^[2][4][5] Bloch and Wartburg think the Classical Latin form is probably a dialect form.^[5]

Cognate with Italian ginestra, Spanish hiniesta, Old Occitan genesta and Portuguese giesta.^[4][5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in a name: Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174) calls Geoffrey Plante Genest, the name of the Plantagenet dynasty.^[2][4] As a common noun, genest is in the 12th-century Glossary of Tours, and the feminine geneste is in Chrétien de Troyes's Charrette (1176–1181).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the broom shrub; the plant is often called genêt à balai and in some regions simply balai.^[4][8] Olivier de Serres writes in 1600 of the genet d'Espaigne grown in pleasure gardens for its yellow flowers.^[7][9] Genêtière “ground covered with broom” (1829, genestrière 1611) replaced the Old French genestoi and genestoie.^[4]

Timeline

• 1160–1174 – Plante Genest in Wace's Roman de Rou.^[2][4]
• 12th century – Genest in the Glossary of Tours.^[2]
• 1176–1181 – The feminine geneste in Chrétien de Troyes's Charrette.^[2]
• 1600 – The spelling genêt, in Olivier de Serres.^[9][3]
• 1829 – Genêtière “ground covered with broom”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. broom, a shrub of the legume family with fragrant golden-yellow flowers.^[8][2][1]
2. Genêt à balai: common broom.^[8][7]
3. Genêt d'Espagne: Spanish broom.^[8][7]

Word family

• genêtière

Related words

• Latin genista

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 101a
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse