limace

Forms

limace f (plural limaces)^[1] Old French also had the masculine limaz.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *limacea, the feminine of *limaceus, formed on Latin līmax (“slug, snail”).^[2][4][5] The masculine gave Old French limaz, which the feminine replaced;^[2][4] Medieval Latin had limatius in the 9th century.^[2][4] The Latin word is generally said to be borrowed from Ancient Greek λείμαξ (leímax), but Rey notes that the Greek word occurs only in Hesychius and may simply transcribe the Latin.^[4]

Cognate with Spanish limaza.^[2][4] limaçon is the diminutive of the old masculine.^[5][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval (1181–1190), meaning a snail with a shell.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French limaz, limace and the diminutive limaçon distinguished the red slug without a shell, the small snail with one and the large snail.^[5][4] From the end of the 14th century the southern habit of eating snails reached the north and brought the Provençal word escargot into French;^[5][4][2] limace then gave up the snail in the literary language and kept only the shell-less slug (1538, Robert Estienne).^[5][4][2] Many dialects kept the old words.^[5]

The slug's sliminess and slowness lend the word to unflattering comparisons: in the 12th century combattre à la limace was said of someone who only fought a very weak opponent,^[4] and in modern familiar use limace is a slow, sluggish person.^[6][7] Limace de mer, for certain fish, is recorded in Boiste (1803).^[8]

Timeline

• 1181–1190 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for a snail with a shell.^[2]
• End of the 14th century – The Provençal escargot spreads to the north, and limace narrows.^[5][4]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne records the sense “slug without a shell”.^[2][8]
• 1803 – Boiste records limace for certain fish.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A slug, a land gastropod like a snail but without a shell.^[6][7]
2. Limace de mer: a fish of the ocean depths.^[6][8]
3. (familiar) A slow, sluggish person: se traîner comme une limace.^[6][7]

Related words

• limaçon
• colimaçon
• escargot
• Latin līmax

Usage notes

A separate slang word limace (also limasse) means “shirt” (1725); it is a derivative of the old slang lyme (1527), lime “shirt”, perhaps from lime “file” because a shirt rubs the skin, and has come to be associated with the name of the slug.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse