Etymologically
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lapin

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Pronunciation

  • /la.pɛ̃/[1]
  • Quebec: /la.pẽ/[1]

Forms

lapin m (plural lapins, feminine lapine)[1]

Etymology

It is an alteration of lapereau (about 1330) with a change of suffix, the ending perhaps taken from connin, a variant of connil (“rabbit”), the word it replaced.[2][3][1][4] The Old French word, from Latin cunīculus (“rabbit”), died out in the 17th century because it lent itself to obscene puns, surviving only in some dialects.[5][2][3]

The origin of that noun is uncertain.[3][5] The FEW and Bloch and Wartburg trace both words to a pre-Romance stem ⟨lapp-⟩ “flat stone”, seen in Portuguese lapa (“projecting rock; cave”), the sense having shifted from the stony burrow to the animal living in it;[5][3][6] laparo (“young rabbit”) belongs with them.[3] The earliest records come from the far north of the French-speaking area, perhaps because rabbit skins were shipped there from Iberia, where the animal was common.[3] Pierre Guiraud instead links Old French lapriel with Latin leporellus (“leveret”), a diminutive from the word for “hare” (see lièvre), and explains the ending by crossing with laper “to eat greedily”.[3][4] Littré thought only a stem ⟨lap-⟩ could be identified.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1450 in the Mystère du Vieil Testament, meaning the rabbit;[2][8] a 15th-century proverb runs qui bons lapins mengue, bons lapins le suivent.[7][8] An Anglo-Norman use of 1324 seems to be a term of contempt for a person.[9]

Semantic evolution

Having replaced connin for good in the 17th century, the word took over some of the symbolism of the hare, suggesting fear and flight.[3] Cotgrave records mémoire de lapin “a very short memory” in 1611, and courir comme un lapin is found in 1809.[2] The feminine lapine was applied to a very fertile woman from 1649 (Scarron).[2][3] The masculine meant a bold, lively man (1790, Restif de la Bretonne), and a comrade in military slang (1809).[2][3] The animal's fertility gave the school-slang use for young libertines (1858) and the popular chaud lapin (1928), helped by the older chaud de la pince.[2][3]

By allusion to cramped rabbit hutches, lapin was a passenger squeezed into a coach beyond the official number (1783); this slang use lies behind faire cadeau d'un lapin “not to pay a woman for her favours” (1878–1879), altered to poser un lapin (1881), which spread in familiar French as “to stand someone up” (1888).[3][2] Le coup du lapin, a blow to the back of the neck, is recorded in 1850.[2]

Timeline

  • 1324 – A possible Anglo-Norman use, as a term of contempt.[9]
  • c. 1450 – First record, in the Mystère du Vieil Testament.[2]
  • 1611 – Mémoire de lapin, in Cotgrave.[2][7]
  • 1649 – Lapine, in Scarron.[2]
  • 1783 – A passenger taken on beyond the official number.[3]
  • 1790 – “A bold, lively man”, in Restif de la Bretonne.[2]
  • 1850 – Le coup du lapin, in Dumas.[2]
  • 1881 – Poser un lapin.[2][3]
  • 1928 – Chaud lapin.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A rabbit, wild (lapin de garenne) or domestic (lapin de clapier), kept for its meat and fur.[10][2]
  2. Rabbit meat: un civet de lapin.[10][11]
  3. Rabbit fur, used in furs and clothing: un manteau en lapin.[8][2]
  4. (familiar) A term of affection: mon petit lapin.[2][10]
  5. (familiar) Poser un lapin: to stand someone up.[2][3]
  6. (familiar) Chaud lapin: a man with strong sexual appetites.[2][3]
  7. Le coup du lapin: a blow to the back of the neck; whiplash in a car accident.[2][10]
  8. Cage à lapins: a cramped modern block of flats.[10]

Word family

  • lapine
  • lapiner
  • lapinière

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 n o p q r s t u v 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 175b
  7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)