jaune

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʒon/^[1]
• IPA (France, Southern): /ʒɔn/^[1]
• IPA: [ˈʒɔ.nə]^[1]
• IPA (Quebec, formal): [ʒou̯n]^[1]

Forms

jaune (plural jaunes)^[1] Old French jalne (1080), jaune (12th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French jalne, inherited from Latin galbinus (“pale green, yellowish”), from galbus (“yellow, greenish yellow”), a word of unknown origin.^{[4][5][6][3][7]} “Galbinus”, which rendered Ancient Greek χλωρός (khlōrós), replaced the main Latin words for yellow, Latin flāvus (“bright yellow”) and fulvus (“tawny”), in the Latin of Gaul.^[5]

Outside northern France it survives only in Romanian galben; Italian giallo and Spanish jalde were borrowed from Old French.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) describes a horse with a white tail and a crignete jalne, a yellow mane.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

By about 1165 it was used of the sallow, parchment-like complexion that shows fatigue or illness.^[4][5] Fixed phrases include fièvre jaune (1814), le métal jaune “gold” (Balzac, 1834) and, in the racial classifications of the time, race jaune (1840), with the racist péril jaune.^[4][5]

Medieval symbolism made yellow the colour of infamy and of the cuckold (d'Aubigné, 1617, Hugo, 1832).^[4][5] Rire jaune “to give a forced laugh” is in Saint-Simon (1740–55), and, from 1899–1901 a jaune was a strikebreaker, from the syndicats jaunes.^[4] Jaune d'œuf “yolk” is in Robert Estienne (1538).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Jalne, Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• c. 1165 – Of a sallow complexion.^[4]
• 1538 – Jaune d'œuf.^[4]
• 1740–55 – Rire jaune, Saint-Simon.^[4]
• 1814 – Fièvre jaune.^[4]
• 1899 – Jaune “strikebreaker”.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. yellow: une robe jaune, le maillot jaune.^[9][1]
2. Sallow (of the complexion).^[4][5]
3. Fièvre jaune: yellow fever.^[4]

Noun

1. Yellow (the colour).^[1][4]
2. Jaune d'œuf: egg yolk.^[1][4]
3. A strikebreaker, scab.^[1][4]
4. (familiar) pastis.^[1]

Adverb

1. Rire jaune: to give a forced laugh.^[4]

Word family

• jaunâtre
• jaunet
• jaunir
• jaunisse
• jaunasse

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
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 j k l m n o p q r s 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 4, 24a
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert