laitier

Forms

laitier (feminine laitière, masculine plural laitiers, feminine plural laitières)^[1] Middle French laictiere (feminine); Anglo-Norman letier and laitere.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French lait + -ier.^[4][5][6][7] Wiktionary compares Latin lactārius.^[1]

The technical noun for blast-furnace slag (1676) is also derived from the same noun, according to the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Bloch and Wartburg.^[5][8][6] Littré thinks the name was probably given for the look of the substance, though a variant litier might point to lit “bed, layer”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The noun is first found about 1225 in Reclus de Molliens's Charité, for a person who sells milk.^[4] The DHLF and the GLLF date it to the end of the 12th century.^[9][10]

Semantic evolution

The noun “milk seller, milk deliverer” is now dated, but kept alive by La Fontaine's fable La Laitière et le pot au lait.^[9][10] Littré quotes the Ménagier de Paris on a laictiere who looked after the cows.^[2]

The adjective first described a female animal giving milk (vake laitiere, 1290), and une bonne laitière became a noun for such a cow in 1762.^[9][4] It took the general sense “relating to milk” in 1611, as in industrie laitière and produits laitiers.^[9][10]

The metallurgical laitier, the glassy matter that forms on molten metal, is recorded from 1676.^[5][8][6]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – Reclus de Molliens uses it for a milk seller.^[4]
• 1290 – Vake laitiere, a milch cow.^[4][9]
• 1307 – Vaches laitieres in a Norman text.^[4]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records the adjective in the sense “relating to milk”.^[10][9]
• 1676 – First record of the metallurgical sense “slag”.^[5][8][6]
• 1762 – The Académie records bonne laitière for a cow that gives much milk.^[4][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A milkman or milkwoman: a person who sells milk or delivers it.^[8][4][1]
2. L'heure du laitier: very early in the morning, at daybreak.^[8]
3. (feminine) A dairy cow;^[8][2] une bonne laitière gives plenty of milk.^[8][2]
4. (metallurgy) slag, the glassy matter that forms on the surface of molten metal and collects the impurities of the ore.^[8][5]

Adjective

1. Of a female animal: kept for its milk: vache laitière.^[8][2]
2. Relating to milk and dairy produce: industrie laitière, produits laitiers.^[8][10][1]

Related words

• lait
• laiterie
• laitage
• laiteux

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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 e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d 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. 5, 111a
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse