mamelle

Forms

mamelle f (plural mamelles)^[1] Old French mamele and memele; the spelling mamelle is found from 1119.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mamele, inherited from Latin mamilla (“breast, nipple”).^[3][5][2] The Latin noun is a diminutive of mamma (“breast”), which in children's speech also meant “mummy, grandmother, nurse” and is the source of maman.^[3][6][2] The Petit Robert calls this word expressive in origin, with the same initial as māter (“mother”).^[7]

Cognate with Italian mammella, Occitan mamèla, Catalan mamella, Spanish mamila, Portuguese mamila and Romanian mamelă.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) uses it for a woman's breast; the Grand Robert and the GLLF date mamele to the end of the 11th century, in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[3][9][10]

Semantic evolution

Used from the first texts of a woman's breast, the word has aged in that sense except in phrases such as enfant à la mamelle (1675); it is the normal term in anatomy and for female animals (late 12th century), and other everyday uses sound jocular or disparaging.^[2][3][10] Of a man it is recorded from about 1170, and sur la mamelle gauche “over the heart” lasted into the 19th century.^[3][2] Dès la mamelle “from infancy” is a 16th-century phrase.^[2][11]

Figuratively it has meant whatever nourishes or yields wealth since 1553, often in allusion to Sully's saying labourage et pâturage sont les deux mamelles dont la France est alimentée.^[3][2][7] By likeness of shape it gained technical senses: part of a saddle-tree or the padding of a collar (1690) and a part of a horse's hoof (1867).^[3][2]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Mamele appears in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[10][9]
• 1121–1134 – Philippe de Thaon uses it of a woman's breast.^[3]
• c. 1170 – Chrétien de Troyes uses memele of a man.^[3]
• Late 12th century – It is used of female animals.^[3]
• 1553 – The figurative sense “source of nourishment” appears.^[3][2]
• c. 1560 – The derivative mamelon appears.^[2]
• 1675 – Enfant à la mamelle is recorded.^[2][10]
• 1690 – Furetière records a saddlers' sense.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (anatomy) The mammary gland of female mammals, which secretes milk; of animals, the udder or teat: les mamelles d'une chèvre.^[7][3]
2. (dated) A woman's breast;^[7][2] enfant à la mamelle, a child still at the breast.^[7][2]
3. (dated) The same organ, undeveloped, in a man.^[7][3]
4. (figurative) A source of nourishment or wealth.^[3][7]
5. (technical) A rounded part of a saddle-tree, or a side part of a horse's hoof.^[3]

Word family

• mamelon
• mamelonné
• mamelu

Related words

• mammifère
• mammographie
• maman
• mammaire
• Latin mamilla

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 130a
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF