lessive

Forms

lessive f (plural lessives)^[1] Old French lissive, leissive, loissive;^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also lexive.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lissive, inherited from Latin lixīva (“lye”), the feminine of lixīvus (“of lye”) used as a noun, from lix (“lye, ash water”).^[2][5][3][1] The Latin adjective went with cinis (“ash”), whose gender wavered, so the neuter lixīvum also existed; it gave Old and Middle French lessif, still used south of a line from southern Lorraine to the mouth of the Loire.^[2][3][6]

The regular Central French outcome would have an /oi/; the TLFi explains the form either by dissimilation of the first /i/ or as a western dialect form, which Bloch and Wartburg and the DHLF prefer.^[2][6][3] Rey thinks the Latin word for lye may be borrowed, perhaps from Etruscan.^[3]

Cognate with Italian lisciva, Spanish lejía, Catalan lleixiu and Romanian leșie.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, lissive in the Conquête de Jérusalem (about 1200), is a solution of ash used for washing a person.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the late 13th century it was the alkaline solution, first made with ash, used to clean dirty linen.^[2][3] In the mid-15th century the Évangiles des Quenouilles have faire la lessive “to do the washing” and the sense “linen being washed”; the older word buée, usual until the 16th century, now survives only in the dialects.^[2][3]

Figurative senses followed: a heavy loss at gaming (Saint-Simon, 1740–55) and the removal of unwanted people from a firm or administration (1901).^[2] In 1926 the word came to name washing powder.^[2][7]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Lissive appears in the Conquête de Jérusalem.^[2][3]
• Late 13th century – Lessive is used for a solution for washing linen.^[2][3]
• Mid-15th century – Faire la lessive appears in the Évangiles des Quenouilles.^[2][8]
• 1690 – Furetière records it for the washing out of the soluble parts of a substance.^[2]
• 1740–55 – Saint-Simon uses it for a heavy loss at gaming.^[2]
• 1901 – Bruant uses it for a purge of unwanted people.^[2]
• 1926 – It names washing powder.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An alkaline solution used for washing; lye.^[7][2]
2. detergent, washing powder or liquid: un paquet de lessive.^[7][2]
3. The washing of linen, the laundry: faire la lessive.^[7][1]
4. Linen that is to be washed or has just been washed: étendre la lessive.^[7][2]
5. (figurative) A clean-up, a purge of a corrupt milieu.^[7][2]

Word family

• lessivable
• lessiver
• lessivage
• lessiveur
• lessiveuse

Related words

• lixiviation
• buée
• Latin lix

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 385a
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse