gouttière

Forms

gouttière f (plural gouttières)^[1] Old French gutiere and goutiere; the spelling gouttière dates from the 16th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French goutte + -ière.^[3][4][5][1] The base noun is from Latin gutta (“drop”).^[5]

Compare Old Occitan gotera, Spanish gotera and Portuguese goteira.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as gutiere in the Oxford Psalter (about 1120), for the lower edge of a roof from which rain drips: gutieres degutanz sur terre, “eaves dripping on the earth”.^[3][4][6][7]

Semantic evolution

From the lower edge of the roof the word passed to the whole roof (16th century), as in chat de gouttière, the common alley cat, recorded from the late 19th century.^[7][2] The modern sense, a channel fixed along the edge of a roof to carry off rainwater, dates from the middle of the 15th century.^[7][2] In 1580 it is used of a crack through which water leaks into a house, a sense still regional in France and Switzerland.^[7][8]

Its half-cylindrical shape gave technical senses: a groove in a bone (1805), a splint holding a broken limb (1845), and a groove along a sword blade (1845).^[7][9] In the 15th century it also named the strip of fabric hanging at the top of bed curtains.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Gutiere appears in the Oxford Psalter.^[4][2]
• 13th century – The spelling goutiere appears.^[2]
• mid-15th century – It names a rain gutter.^[7][2]
• 1580 – It is used of a leak in a roof.^[7]
• 16th century – The spelling gouttière appears, and the word is used of the whole roof.^[2][7]
• 1805 – Used in anatomy for a groove.^[7]
• 1845 – Used in surgery for a splint and of a sword blade.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A gutter fixed along the lower edge of a roof to carry off rainwater.^[8][10]
2. (dated) The lower edge of a roof, from which rain drips;^[8][2] chat de gouttière: an ordinary alley cat.^[8][2]
3. (regional) A leak in a roof, or the water dripping from it.^[8][10]
4. (medicine) A splint holding a broken limb still.^[8][10]
5. (anatomy) A groove on the surface of a bone.^[8][10]
6. A groove along the blade of a sword or knife, a fuller.^[10][1]

Word family

• chat de gouttière

Related words

• goutte
• égout
• égoutter
• dégoutter

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)