mangue

Forms

mangue f (plural mangues)^[1] First manga (1540), then mangue (1604).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Portuguese manga,^[4][2][5][3] which the TLFi and Rey trace to Tamil மாங்காய் (māṅkāy), the name of the fruit.^[4][2][6] Wiktionary has the Portuguese word come through Malay mangga, and Bloch and Wartburg from the language of the Malabar coast.^[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as manga, cited as a foreign word in a translation from Portuguese.^[2][4] The GLLF dates this about 1540, and the TLFi quotes Grouchy's 1553 translation of Castanheda's history of India: appellent les uns Iacas, les autres Mangas “they call some of them jacks, the others mangoes”.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The form mangue is recorded in 1604, in François Martin's account of a voyage to the Indies.^[4][6] Its gender was unsettled until the 17th century: it was masculine in 1598, and feminine from 1657.^[4][2]

The tree name manguier (1688) displaced manga for the tree.^[2] In the French of Haiti the English form mango is used for the fruit, while in Africa mango is the fibrous fruit of the wild, ungrafted mango tree.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1540 – Manga appears as a foreign word.^[6][2]
• 1553 – Grouchy's translation of Castanheda has Mangas.^[4]
• 1598 – Used as a masculine noun.^[4]
• 1604 – The form mangue is recorded.^[4][3]
• 1657 – Used as a feminine noun, the gender that prevailed.^[4][2]
• 1688 – The tree name manguier is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mango, the fruit of the mango tree, with smooth skin and fragrant orange-yellow flesh that smells of turpentine.^[7][8][4]

Word family

• manguier

Related words

• Portuguese manga

Usage notes

Another noun mangue, masculine in Larousse, names a carnivorous mammal of Africa related to the mangouste, from which the GLLF and Wiktionary derive it, recording it in Littré (1868).^{[6][9][1][10]} A third mangue is a pocket-shaped fishing net, from Old Provençal manega “sleeve”, recorded in 1873 by Pierre Larousse.^[6][9][11] The Grand Robert's mangue 2 has that date and etymology.^[3]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF