guirlande

Forms

guirlande f (plural guirlandes)^[1] Middle French guerlande (1403), then guirlande (1540), girlande (1549) and ghirlande (1553).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian ghirlanda (“crown, especially of woven flowers or leaves”), recorded in Italian from the 13th century;^[2][3][4] the earlier spelling guerlande (1403) was remade in its present form in 1540.^[3][2] The Italian word was itself probably taken from Old Occitan guirlanda (“crown of gold threads”).^[2][3][4]

The Old Occitan word, like Old French garlande (13th to 15th century) and Old Occitan garlanda, goes back to Frankish *wiara (“ornament of gold thread”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} According to Bloch and Wartburg and the DHLF, an older *wēra became *weara about 800, which gave the forms in ⟨gar-⟩ and ⟨guer-⟩, and then *wiera in the 9th century, which gave the Occitan form in ⟨guir-⟩.^[4][3] The DHLF compares Old High German wiara (“crown”) and explains the ending ⟨-ande⟩ through a verb formed on Frankish *wiarōn.^[3][5] P. Guiraud, quoted by the DHLF, separates the word from a homonymous Old French word meaning “battlement” and takes ⟨-ande⟩ as a collective ending.^[3] Wiktionary instead treats the French word as the continuation of the Old French word.^[1]

Littré lists guirnalda and guirlanda beside the Italian and Occitan forms.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Christine de Pizan uses guerlande in her Dit de la pastoure (1403) for a crown of precious metal.^[2][3] The sense “chaplet of flowers worn in the hair” comes with the form guirlande in Herberay des Essarts' translation of Amadis de Gaule (1540).^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the crown of metal the word passed to a decorative cord of flowers, cut paper and the like, hung in festoons or wound into a wreath (1540).^[3][2] In the 17th century it was used figuratively for a collection of poems, as in La Guirlande de Julie, a book of madrigals written for Mlle de Rambouillet, each leaf of which was decorated with a flower.^[3] From 1835 it also named anything arranged in the manner of a garland, such as plants or objects.^[3][8] In ship carpentry it has named a curved timber at the bow since 1704.^[8][9]

Its derivative enguirlander (1555), “to adorn with garlands”, was used for heaping praise on someone (1819); a play on engueuler gave it the familiar sense “to scold” (1922), which now colours all its uses.^[3]

Timeline

• 1403 – Guerlande “crown of precious metal” in Christine de Pizan.^[2][3]
• 1540 – Guirlande “chaplet of flowers worn in the hair” in Herberay des Essarts' Amadis.^[2]
• 1549 – Rabelais writes girlande.^[2]
• 1553 – Ronsard writes ghirlande.^[2]
• 1555 – The derivative enguirlander is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1704 – The Trévoux dictionary records the shipbuilding sense.^[8][9]
• 1835 – Used for anything arranged like a garland.^[3][8]
• 1922 – Enguirlander takes the familiar sense “to scold”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A garland or festoon: a decorative cord of real or artificial plants, cut paper and the like, hung in loops or wound into a wreath; also tinsel and the strings of lights used at Christmas: une guirlande électrique.^[9][2][1]
2. A painted or carved representation of such an ornament.^[9]
3. A row or series that recalls a garland: une guirlande de diamants.^[9][7]
4. (nautical) A curved timber joining the parts of the hull at the bow, inside the stem.^[9][8]

Word family

• enguirlander

Related words

• galandage

Usage notes

The derivative guirlander “to decorate with garlands” (16th century) was replaced by enguirlander.^[3]

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 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 l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 573b
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert