jument

Forms

jument f (plural juments)^[1] First masculine; a feminine jumente (1314) was pushed out by jument.^[2] Anglo-Norman jumente, gumente.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin iūmentum (“beast of burden”).^[4][2][5][1] The Latin neuter first meant a team of draught animals, and comes from a popular derivative of iugum (“yoke”).^[2][6] The Latin word is found meaning “mare” in the 6th century, and the feminine jumenta with the same sense in the Kassel Glosses of the 8th–9th century.^[4][2] The specialization arose because farmers used their breeding mares as working animals.^[5][2] The word ousted Old French ive, from equa, which survives in Spanish yegua.^[4][2][5]

The Latin word survives elsewhere mostly as “donkey”: Italian giumento, Catalan jument, Spanish jumento; Italian giumenta is “mare”.^[7][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found, as a masculine, in the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century), meaning a beast of burden and rendering Latin jumentum.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

As a masculine the word named any pack animal, a horse or a mule, and appears in apposition in cheval jument (1444); this sense died out in the 16th century.^[2] From the 12th century it changed gender and narrowed to “female horse”, first recorded in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence's Vie de saint Thomas (1174).^[4][2] Bloch and Wartburg say it had driven out ive by the 14th century.^[5]

Littré also gives a technical sense, an instrument once used for striking coins.^[6] Figuratively and familiarly, jument poulinière is a woman with many children,^[9] and in slang a jument is a tall, slim and beautiful woman.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Masculine “beast of burden” in the Oxford Psalter.^[4][8][2]
• 1174 – Feminine “mare” in Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence.^[4][10]
• 1314 – The feminine form jumente is recorded.^[2]
• 1444 – Cheval jument “pack horse”.^[2]
• 16th century – The sense “beast of burden” disappears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mare, the female of the horse.^[9][4][1]
2. Jument poulinière: a broodmare;^[9] (familiar, figurative) a woman with many children.^[9]
3. (slang) A tall, slim, beautiful woman.^[1]

Related words

• joug
• joindre
• Latin iūmentum

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert