Etymologically
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mayonnaise

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ma.jɔ.nɛz/[1]

Forms

mayonnaise f (plural mayonnaises)[1]

Etymology

The origin is disputed.[2][3] It is most often derived from the name of Port-Mahon, from Spanish Mahón, capital of Minorca, in memory of its capture by the Duke of Richelieu in 1756;[4][2][5][6][7][8] tradition has it that the duke's cook made up the sauce from what he found on the island, eggs and oil.[2] But the word is recorded only fifty years after the event, and never first as “mahonnaise”, so it has also been taken for a corrupt spelling of “bayonnaise”, from Bayonne, as Bescherelle held.[4][2][5]

Other proposals are a derivative of moyeu, the old word for egg yolk, from the root of manier (hence the spelling “magnonaise”), or, after Pierre Guiraud, from mailler (“to beat”);[2][3] Wiktionary adds the Duke of Mayenne.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Viard's Cuisinier impérial (1806) has saumon à la mayonnaise, salmon with the cold sauce.[4][2][6]

Semantic evolution

Early 19th-century cooks argued over the name: in 1808 a writer rejected both mayonnaise and mahonnaise for bayonnaise.[9] The noun alone, sauce mayonnaise and dishes such as mayonnaise de volaille are found from 1855, when one cookery book still writes magnonaise.[4][2][10][11]

Figuratively, la mayonnaise prend (“the mayonnaise is taking”) means that things are turning out well, and faire monter la mayonnaise is to blow a situation up.[2][6][7] Mechanics also call an emulsion of oil and water in an engine mayonnaise.[1]

Timeline

  • 1756 – The Duke of Richelieu takes Port-Mahon.[4][2]
  • 1806 – Saumon à la mayonnaise (Viard).[4][6]
  • 1808 – Bayonnaise is urged as the correct name.[9]
  • 1814 – Mayonnaise de lapereaux (Beauvilliers).[9]
  • 1855 – Sauce mayonnaise[4][10]; magnonaise (Audot).[4][10]
  • 1878 – First recorded by the Académie.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Mayonnaise, a cold sauce made by beating oil into egg yolks with seasoning.[6][7]
  2. A dish of fish, poultry or vegetables served with this sauce: mayonnaise de homard.[10][11]
  3. La mayonnaise prend: things are coming together[7][6]; faire monter la mayonnaise: to dramatize a situation.[7][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b 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 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 g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 52a
  9. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  11. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette