marquise

Forms

marquise f (plural marquises)^[1] Old French marcise (12th century) and marchise, the feminine of marchis.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also has marchize and markyse.^[5]

Etymology

It is from French marquis, as its feminine.^[3][1][6][7] It replaced Old French marchise, found from the 12th century and in Rutebeuf, the feminine of marchis “ruler of a march”, when the masculine replaced that word.^[3][2][4] The masculine was borrowed from Italian marchese, from marca (“march, borderland”),^[3][4] which goes back to Frankish *marka like marche¹.^[8][4]

Cognate with Old Occitan marquesa, Spanish marquesa and Italian marchesa.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The form marquise is first found about 1393 in the Ménagier de Paris, in marquise de Saluces, of the wife of a marquis.^[3] The older marchise is in Anglo-Norman from about 1170, for a marchioness,^[5] and Rutebeuf has c'estoit une grant marchise “she was a great marchioness”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The marquise became a symbol of noble refinement and pretension,^[4] and the word was used ironically of a woman who gives herself the airs of a great lady.^[2][9]

From the 17th century it named several refined or elegant things: a pear (1690), the cloth stretched over the entrance of an officer's tent (1718), an armchair (1770), a drink of white wine, soda water, sugar and lemon (1858), and a ring with an oblong bezel (1902).^[3][4] Bloch and Wartburg explain the tent sense by the cloth setting the officer's tent apart from the others.^[7] From the tent the word passed in 1835 to the canopy, usually glazed, over a door or a flight of steps, a common feature of 19th-century iron and glass architecture.^[3][4][10] The English word marquee (1680s) comes from the tent sense, its final -s having been taken for a plural.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Anglo-Norman marchise “marchioness”.^[5]
• 13th century – Rutebeuf uses marchise.^[3][9]
• c. 1393 – Marquise appears in the Ménagier de Paris.^[3]
• 1472 – Date given by the Grand Robert, the GLLF and Rey.^[6][2][4]
• 1680s – English borrows the word as marquee, for a large tent.^[11]
• 1690 – Furetière names a pear marquise.^[3][4]
• 1718 – The Académie records the officer's tent cloth.^[3][12]
• 1770 – An armchair called marquise is recorded.^[3][12]
• 1835 – Balzac uses it for the canopy over a flight of steps in Le Père Goriot.^[3][10]
• 1858 – A wine drink is called marquise.^[3]
• 1902 – The Larousse records the ring.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The wife of a marquis, or a noblewoman holding a marquisat, a marchioness.^[12][3][2]
2. (ironic, dated) A woman who gives herself grand airs.^[2][9]
3. A cloth stretched over the entrance of an officer's tent.^[12][9]
4. A canopy, usually glazed, over an entrance door or a flight of steps, an awning; also the glazed roofs over a station's platforms.^[12][1]
5. A ring with an oblong bezel.^[12][3][1]
6. A low, deep armchair with a wide seat.^[12][3]
7. A dessert close to a charlotte: marquise au chocolat.^[12]
8. A variety of melting pear.^[2][3]

Related words

• marquis
• marquisat
• marche¹
• Italian marchesa
• English marquee

Usage notes

In old slang marquise meant a woman or wife (1628) and later a thief's mistress (1836); the TLFi derives this word from marque, the slang word for a woman, with a joking allusion to the title.^[3][13]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 523a
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 Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ 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
13. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 554a