grimace

Forms

grimace f (plural grimaces)^[1] Middle French also had grimache; the older Old French form was grimuche.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Old French grimuche (“grotesque figure”) with a change of suffix: the unusual ending -uche was replaced by the pejorative suffix -asse.^[5][6][2][7] The older word (about 1200, in Jean Bodel's Jeu de saint Nicolas, of a pagan idol) matches Medieval Latin grimutio, used as a nickname in the 12th century;^[6][5][2] Bloch and Wartburg date the Latin nickname to the 11th century.^[5]

Its stem probably goes back to Frankish *grīma (“mask”),^[6][2][3][8] inferred from Old Saxon grīma and Middle Dutch grime, both "mask", and compared with Old Norse gríma;^[5][6] a trace of it may already appear in Latin glosses of the 9th century.^[6] Wiktionary takes the Frankish word to Proto-Germanic *grīmô (“mask, helmet”), with Old English grīma.^[1]

Meyer-Lübke instead derived the French word from Spanish grimazo,^[9] and Littré connected it with Italian grimo (“wrinkled”).^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the second half of the 14th century, in Guillaume de Saint-André's Livre du bon Jehan (Jehan leur fist une grimace “Jehan made a face at them”), for a contortion of the face, deliberate or not.^[6][10][2]

Semantic evolution

Already at the end of the 14th century Eustache Deschamps used faire la grimace à quelqu'un for giving someone a cold, hostile welcome, a figure that survives in la soupe à la grimace.^[6][2] Closer to its origin, the word also meant a grotesque figure, especially one carved on the seats of choir stalls (1387).^[6][2]

From the dominant sense came "a look put on to deceive" (Corneille, 1632) and false, deceitful behaviour, and in the plural "affected manners" (Molière, 1663).^[6][2][7] By analogy it was used in tailoring for a bad fold in a garment (Furetière, 1690), and in 1721 the Trévoux dictionary recorded it for a box of sealing wafers whose lid served as a pincushion, a sense now gone.^[6][2] English borrowed grimace in the 1650s.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Jean Bodel uses the older form grimuche for a grotesque figure.^[6][5]
• 1350–1400 – Grimace “contortion of the face” in the Livre du bon Jehan.^[6]
• 1387 – A Burgundian inventory uses it for a grotesque figure.^[6][2]
• Late 14th century – Deschamps uses faire la grimace for a hostile welcome.^[6][5]
• 1428 – The verb grimacer appears.^[5][2]
• 1632 – Corneille uses it for a feigned look.^[6][7]
• 1650s – English grimace is borrowed.^[11]
• 1663 – Molière uses the plural for affected manners.^[2][7]
• 1690 – Furetière records faire la grimace of clothes that crease badly.^[6]
• 1721 – The Trévoux dictionary records it for a box of sealing wafers.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grimace, a contortion of the face, deliberate or not: Le clown fit une grimace aux enfants.^[4][6][1]
2. Faire la grimace: to show displeasure or disgust.^[4][10]
3. (familiar) La soupe à la grimace: a hostile welcome from a cross wife, and by extension the sulky mood of a displeased person.^[4][2]
4. (dated, figurative) A look put on to deceive, pretence.^[4][10] In the plural, affected or exaggerated politeness.^[4][10]
5. (archaeology) A grotesque figure carved on the seats of choir stalls.^[4][2]
6. A bad fold in a fabric or garment.^[4][10]

Word family

• grimacer
• grimacier

Related words

• grime
• grimaud
• Frankish *grīma
• English grimace

Usage notes

The proverb on n'apprend pas à un vieux singe à faire la grimace means that one cannot teach tricks to an old hand.^[4] grime (1694, in faire la grime “to pout”) probably comes from grimace.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 63a
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com