maie

Forms

maie f (plural maies)^[1] Old French mait, maiz, met;^[2][3] maye in 1389.^[2][3] Variant mée, recorded by Littré.^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mait, inherited from Latin magis (“kneading trough”), accusative magidem.^[2][4][5][6] The modern form is a refashioning of the older form.^[4][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek μαγίς (magís, “bread dough, kneading trough”);^[2][4] Latin also had the doublet magida (“large serving dish”), from the Greek accusative.^[2][4] Littré instead derived it from Latin mactra.^[7]

Cognate with Italian madia;^[8] Basque borrowed it as maida.^[8] Littré cites ⟨met⟩ from Saintonge and Angoumois, and Occitan mag.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Judeo-French glosses of Rashi (late 11th century) as mait, maiz, meaning both the part of the wine press that holds the grapes and a kneading trough.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The word named a kneading trough, then a bread chest, and technically the bed of a wine press.^[4][2] Littré also records a brass maker's shovel and a sailors' box for draining tarred ropes.^[7] Rabelais compares a nose to dough rising in the mect.^[7] These rural uses have become old-fashioned; the first lives on through the taste for old country furniture.^[4]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Mait, maiz in Rashi's glosses.^[2][4]
• c. 1220 – Mait in Constant du Hamel.^[2]
• 1389 – The form maye appears in an inventory.^[2][4]
• 16th century – Rabelais writes mect.^[7]
• 1868 – Littré records the variant mée.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A low wooden trough on legs with a lid, formerly used for kneading dough and keeping bread; huche, pétrin.^[2][9][10]
2. The flat bed of a wine press, on which the grape marc is pressed and where the juice runs.^[9][10][7]

Related words

• Latin magis

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 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 i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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, 26b
7. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)