Etymologically
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meute

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Pronunciation

Forms

meute f (plural meutes)[1] Old French muete;[2] meute from about 1200.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French muete, inherited from Vulgar Latin *movita, the feminine used as a noun of *movitus, a past participle of Latin moveō (“to move”) rebuilt on the verb's stem beside classical mōtus.[2][3][4][1][5] Compare Medieval Latin movita (“uprising, expedition”), Old Italian motta (“movement; landslide”) and Old Spanish muebda (“movement; crowd”).[2][3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Charroi de Nîmes (about 1150) has muete for a pack of hounds trained to hunt.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the 12th to the 16th century the word also meant an uprising or military expedition, the sense behind émeute “riot” and mutin “mutineer”;[2][3][4] Wace speaks of la grant meute d'outremer, the great crusade.[7] Hunting phrases such as chiens de meute (about 1180) keep the old active sense of rousing game.[3]

The old form muete was kept for the kennel (1423), as in the Château de la Muette in the Bois de Boulogne, whose name is now wrongly pronounced as if from muet “mute”.[3][4][7] Figuratively, from 1812–1819, a meute is a band of people hounding someone: une meute de créanciers, de photographes.[2][3][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1150 – Muete, a pack of hounds.[2][3]
  • 12th–16th centuries – Also an uprising, an expedition.[2][3]
  • c. 1200 – The form meute.[2]
  • 1375 – Ameuter “to gather a pack”.[4]
  • 1423 – Muete “kennel”.[3]
  • 1819 – A pack of pursuers (Boiste).[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pack of hounds for hunting.[8][1]
  2. A pack of dogs or other animals: les loups vivent en meute.[8]
  3. (figurative) A mob or band of people hounding someone.[8][1]

Word family

  • mutin
  • ameuter

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 169a
  6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert