gorge

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡɔʁʒ/^[1]

Forms

gorge f (plural gorges)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French gorge, inherited from Vulgar Latin *gorga, a variant of Late Latin gurga (“gullet”) (6th century), from classical Latin gurges (“whirlpool; abyss; figuratively, gullet”).^{[2][3][4][5][6][1]} The TLFi and Rey describe it as a borrowing from spoken Latin, Wiktionary and Bloch and Wartburg as inherited.^[7][2][1][5] Rey and the Petit Robert relate the Latin noun to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *gʷer- (“to swallow”), also seen in Latin vorō (“to devour”) and Ancient Greek βρόγχος (brónkhos, “windpipe”).^[2][4]

Cognate with Occitan gorja, Portuguese gorja and Italian gorga; Old Occitan gorc meant “abyss”.^[8][4][5] In Franche-Comté and French-speaking Switzerland the word is usual for the mouth.^[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Voyage de saint Brendan (early 12th century) has it for the inner part of the neck, the throat.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

By extension it named a woman's breasts (Jean Renart, 1228), a sense now dated but kept in soutien-gorge.^[7][2] It entered phrases such as prendre quelqu'un à la gorge (late 16th century), se couper la gorge (Molière, 1664), rire à gorge déployée (1585) and faire rentrer à quelqu'un les paroles dans la gorge (Furetière, 1690).^[2][10][7] Gorge profonde, an informer, is a calque of the English deep throat of the Watergate affair (1973).^[2]

In falconry it named the meal of a hawk (about 1200) and its crop (1376); from it come faire des gorges chaudes “to make merry at someone's expense” (1690) and rendre gorge, first of a bird bringing up its food, then “to vomit” (Marot, 1535) and “to give back what one took” (1598).^[7][2] The narrow opening of objects (Jean de Meun) led to a narrow pass between mountains (1675).^[7]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – “Throat”, Voyage de saint Brendan.^[7]
• c. 1200 – A hawk's meal.^[7]
• 1228 – “A woman's breasts”, Jean Renart.^[7]
• 1269–78 – A narrow opening, Jean de Meun.^[7]
• 1585 – À gorge déployée.^[7]
• 1598 – Rendre gorge “to give back by force”.^[7]
• 1675 – A mountain pass.^[7]
• 1690 – En faire une gorge chaude.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The throat, front of the neck: prendre quelqu'un à la gorge, couper la gorge à quelqu'un.^[4][1]
2. The gullet, inside of the throat: mal de gorge, sore throat, avoir la gorge serrée, rire à gorge déployée, to laugh heartily.^[1][2]
3. (literary or dated) A woman's bosom.^[1][2]
4. A narrow valley, a gorge.^[1][7]
5. Rendre gorge: to give back ill-gotten gains, faire des gorges chaudes de, to gloat over, mock.^[1][2]
6. (technical) A groove, a narrow opening.^[7]

Word family

• gorgée
• gorger
• dégorger
• engorger
• regorger
• égorger
• égorgeur
• gorgerette
• coupe-gorge
• rouge-gorge
• soutien-gorge

Related words

• ingurgiter
• régurgiter
• Latin gurges

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d 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, 331b
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse