hérisson

Forms

hérisson m (plural hérissons, feminine hérissonne)^[1] Old French heriçun, heriçon and herichon; the spelling hérisson dates from the 16th century.^[2][3][4] Dialect forms include Walloon ireson and Picard hérichon.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French heriçun, from Old French *eriz + -on, an unrecorded Old French word whose existence is shown by Old Occitan aritz, Italian riccio and Spanish erizo.^[5][6][7] The simple form is from Latin ericius (“hedgehog, a beam set with iron spikes”), which died out very early in northern Gaul.^[5][8][6] A Late Latin form *ericiō would have given *erçon in Old French, so the TLFi and Rey reject it;^[5][6] the Grand Robert and the GLLF nevertheless derive the word from such a form, *hericiō.^[2][3] The initial ⟨h⟩ is probably expressive.^[5][3] From the start the word must have been felt as a derivative of the verb hérisser, which has the same origin.^[6][8]

The Latin word comes from ēr (“hedgehog”) (archaic her), related to the rare Greek name of the hedgehog Ancient Greek χήρ (khḗr), the usual word being ἐχῖνος (ekhînos).^[6][4] Rey connects it with words for hard spikes, such as Old High German grot (“rocky point, fishbone”), which are usually traced to Proto-Indo-European *gher(s)- (“to bristle”).^[6]

Cognate with Catalan eriçó, Portuguese ouriço and Occitan erisso.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as heriçuns in the Cambridge Psalter (early 12th century), naming the small spiny mammal: La pierre refuge as heriçuns, “the rock is a refuge for the hedgehogs”.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

From about 1155 the word also took up a technical sense of Latin ericius, a beam set with iron spikes used in war;^[5][6] Wace uses heriçon so.^[5][6] The same likeness to the animal's spines gave names to other spiked things: an arrangement of bricks or rubble on a wall (1370), a toothed wheel (1676), a four-fluked grapnel (1678, an alteration of the obscure Middle French risson after hérisson), a rack for draining dishes (1680), a woman's hairstyle (1780), iron spikes on top of a wall or railing, and a spiked roller for breaking clods (1840), and a chimney sweep's brush (1866).^[5]

Spiny animals of the sea were called hérisson de mer “sea urchin” from the 14th century, as Latin echinus named both the urchin and the hedgehog;^[6] Littré records the prickly husk of the chestnut as a hérisson in 1866.^[5][6] The figurative sense “a person who is hard to deal with” appears in Cyrano de Bergerac in 1651, and Regnard used hérisson as an adjective, “surly”, in 1697.^[5][3] The feminine hérissonne for the female animal is first found in Giraudoux in 1937.^[5][6]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – Heriçuns in the Cambridge Psalter.^[5]
• c. 1155 – Wace's Brut uses heriçon for a spiked beam.^[5]
• 1370 – Hireçon in masonry, in the archives of Tournai.^[5]
• 14th century – Hérisson de mer “sea urchin”.^[6]
• 16th century – The spelling hérisson appears.^[2][3]
• 1651 – Cyrano de Bergerac uses it of a difficult person.^[5]
• 1678 – Erisson “grapnel” in Guillet.^[5]
• 1680 – Richelet records it as a dish rack.^[5]
• 1697 – Regnard uses it as an adjective, “surly”.^[5][3]
• 1866 – Littré records the chimney sweep's brush and the chestnut husk.^[5]
• 1937 – The feminine hérissonne in Giraudoux.^[5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hedgehog, a small insect-eating mammal whose back is covered with spines and which rolls into a ball when threatened.^[9][5]
2. (figurative) A prickly person, hard to approach or deal with.^[9][5]
3. A name for other spiny creatures: hérisson de mer, the sea urchin, also an edible mushroom covered with hanging spines.^[9][6]
4. (technical) A device set with points or spikes: a four-fluked grapnel, a round wire brush for sweeping chimneys, a row of spikes on top of a wall, a spiked roller, a rack for draining bottles or dishes.^[9][5][3]

Adjective

1. (classical) surly, cantankerous; feminine hérissonne.^[3][4]

Word family

• hérissonne

Related words

• hérisser
• Latin ericius

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 238
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert