lingue

lingue¹ ling (fish)

Pronunciation

• /lɛ̃ɡ/^[1]

Forms

lingue f (plural lingues)^[1][2] Old French lengue (13th century), Middle French leynge or leyngue (1396); masculine in the 18th century.^[3][4][5]

Etymology

The word for the fish is borrowed from Dutch leng, derived from lang (“long”), or from another Germanic language.^[4][3] In its first record it was probably taken from ling, as A. Thomas and P. W. Brosman argued.^[4] The Wiktionary traces it to Middle Dutch *lenge.^[1] The English word has the cognates German Leng and Old Norse langa and was probably named for the fish's length.^[6]

Littré derived it from Latin lingua (“tongue”), because of its shape.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as leyngue in 1396, in the Manière de langage.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The modern spelling lingue appears in Savary des Bruslons in 1723.^[4][5] Littré described it as a long kind of lotte salted like cod,^[7] and it is also called morue longue or grande morue barbue.^[5]

Timeline

• 13th century – Old French lengue.^[3][5]
• 1396 – Leyngue in the Manière de langage.^[4][3]
• 1723 – Lingue in Savary des Bruslons.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The ling, a long sea fish of the cod family (Molva), of the Channel and Atlantic coasts, close to the lotte; also called julienne.^[2][5][4]

lingue² knife (slang)

Pronunciation

• /lɛ̃ɡ/^[1]

Forms

lingue m (plural lingues)^[4][3] Older slang ingre (1596) and lingre (1612), the latter still found in the 19th century.^[4][3]

Etymology

The word for the knife comes, in an altered form, from French Langres, the name of a town in the Haute-Marne known for its cutlery since the Middle Ages.^[4][3][8] The Grand Robert gives this explanation after the slang lexicographer Esnault.^[3] The Larousse thinks the form probably Picard.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as ingre in 1596 in Pechon de Ruby's book on the life of pedlars, beggars and gypsies.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The 1612 edition of the same book has lingre, glossed by cousteau “knife”; the form lingue is first found in 1835, in an article by Raspail.^[4][5] In the 19th century lingre was still used, as in Vidocq (1844), and lingue is found in Barbusse (1916) and in Vercel's Capitaine Conan (1934).^[4] Le Breton judged it to be dying out in 1960.^[4] From it came the slang verb linguer “to stab”.^[4]

Timeline

• 1596 – Ingre in Pechon de Ruby.^[4][3]
• 1612 – Lingre, glossed “knife”.^[4][3]
• 1835 – Lingue in Raspail.^[4][3][5]
• 1916 – Barbusse uses it in Le Feu.^[4]
• 1960 – Le Breton calls it obsolescent.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (slang, dated) A knife or dagger: coup de lingue, jouer du lingue.^[4][5]