mâle

Forms

mâle (plural mâles)^[1] Old French masle (1119), mascle and madles (about 1170); malle in 1256;^[2][3][4] mâle from the 16th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French masle, inherited from Latin masculus (“male, masculine, manly”), through a contracted Vulgar Latin masclus.^[2][5][1][6] In imperial Latin the word was a diminutive of classical mās (“male”), which it drove out completely;^[2][5][7] the older word has no known cognates in other languages.^[2][5][7]

Cognate with Italian maschio, Old Occitan mascle and Spanish macho.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as masle in Philippe de Thaon's Comput (1119), as a noun for a male animal.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The noun was first said of animals and then, in a legal context, of human beings (about 1170), in contrast to femelle.^[2][5] As an adjective (about 1160) it was used of men, especially in law (hoirs masles, 1283), of animals and of plants (1555).^[2][5] From the 16th century it meant “full of energy and vigour”, in judging art (about 1553, painting 1762) and character (1638), today mostly in jest; familiarly the noun has meant a sexually vigorous man since 1616.^[5][2]

From the idea of complementary male and female parts it names a fitting that goes into another (prise mâle); in architecture proportions mâles (1840) refers to the Doric order, modelled on the male body.^[5][2]

Timeline

• 1119 – Masle “male animal” in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2]
• c. 1160 – First used as an adjective, in the Roman d'Enéas.^[2]
• c. 1170 – Madles “males” in a legal sense in the Livre des Rois.^[2]
• 1283 – Beaumanoir writes of oirs masles “male heirs”.^[2]
• 1553 – Ronsard writes mâle courage.^[2]
• 1555 – Ronsard uses it of a plant, palme mâle.^[2]
• 1616 – Sense “vigorous man” in the Comédie des Proverbes.^[2]
• 1678 – Technical sense, in Guillet.^[2]
• 1840 – Proportions mâles in architecture.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A male, an individual of the sex that fertilizes: le mâle et la femelle.^[9][2]
2. (familiar or pejorative) A man thought of as sexually vigorous: un beau mâle.^[9]
3. (law) A person of the male sex: héritier par les mâles.^[9]

Adjective

1. Male, of the male sex: un enfant mâle, un chat mâle; in botany, of a flower bearing only stamens.^[9][4]
2. (technology) Of a part that fits into a matching female part: une prise mâle.^[9][5]
3. Manly, showing strength and energy: une mâle résolution.^[9][2]
4. (dated) Vigorous and bold, of style or art.^[9][5]

Word family

• malard
• surmâle

Related words

• masculin
• émasculer
• macho
• Latin masculus

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 425a
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert