lente

Forms

lente f (plural lentes)^[1] Old French lentre (plural lentres).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *lenditem (“nit”), an accusative taken as a nominative, for Classical Latin lēns (“nit, louse egg”).^[2][3][5][1] The Latin word was a popular term, altered in several ways: the Late Latin lendinem, recorded in Marcellus Empiricus, is the source of Italian lendine and Spanish liendre.^[2][3][5] The classical form itself survives in the north of Picardy, in Walloon lin and in the east as far as Franco-Provençal.^[2][5]

Rey notes similar forms with ⟨n⟩ and a dental in several Indo-European groups, such as Welsh nedd and Old High German hniz, which point to a popular word deformed in various ways rather than to one reconstructable original.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as lentres at the end of the 11th century in Rashi's French glosses, for the eggs of the louse.^[2][3] The Roman de la Rose lists paous, cirons et lentes among the pests that keep workers from their tasks.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its single sense, the egg of the louse, and remains in use as long as the parasite has to be fought.^[3] The form lente is found from about 1265 in Jean de Meun.^[4][7]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Lentres in Rashi's glosses.^[2]
• c. 1180 – Found in the Proverbe au vilain.^[2]
• 1227 – Guillaume le Clerc uses it in the Besant de Dieu.^[2]
• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun writes lente.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nit, the egg a louse lays at the base of a hair.^[7][8][9]

Related words

• Latin lēns

Usage notes

Littré records a second, regional lente for a dysenteric enteritis of cattle.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)