lippe

Forms

lippe f (plural lippes)^[1] Old French lipe and lepe;^[1][2] the spelling lippe is found in Charles d'Orléans in the early 15th century.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Dutch lippe (“lip”),^[4][5][6][7] or perhaps from Low German,^[8] a word of a Germanic group with the same root as Latin labia and labra, the source of lèvre.^[8] Wiktionary traces it further to Frankish *lippjō (“lip”).^[1] Compare German Lippe^[5][6] and Old English lippa.^[9]

The word spread over most of Gallo-Romance,^[4] and through French it reached the southern dialects and those of northern Italy.^[5][8] Littré cites Walloon lèpe (“lip”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ambroise's Estoire de la guerre sainte (about 1195) has lipe for a thick, protruding lower lip;^[4][8] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary dates it 1194–1199.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word meant the thick, jutting lower lip from its first texts, and by metonymy a marked movement of the lip showing displeasure, mostly in faire la lippe (about 1205, Roman de Renart).^[8][4] Charles d'Orléans wrote De legier pleure à qui la lippe pent (“he weeps easily whose lip hangs”).^[9] In Canada faire la lippe is still used for “to whimper”.^[8]

Its derivatives are lippée (1316), properly “what one takes with the lip”, a mouthful, then a good meal (1492), and lippu (1539), “thick-lipped”.^[8][5] In ironwork it names the part of a raised ornament that is turned back further than the rest (1832).^[10][9]

Timeline

• c. 1195 – Lipe “thick lower lip” in Ambroise's Estoire de la guerre sainte.^[4]
• c. 1205 – Faire la lipe “to pout” in the Roman de Renart.^[4][8]
• 1316 – The derivative lippée appears.^[8][5]
• Early 15th century – Charles d'Orléans writes lippe.^[3]
• 1539 – Lippu “thick-lipped” appears.^[8][5]
• 1832 – Raymond records it as an ironwork term.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thick, protruding lower lip.^[7][4][9]
2. Faire la lippe: to pout, to sulk.^[7][4][8]
3. (Canada) Faire la lippe: to whimper.^[8]
4. (ironwork) The part of a raised ornament turned back further than the rest.^[9][10]

Word family

• lippu
• lippée

Related words

• lèvre
• English lip

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF