miche

Forms

miche f (plural miches)^[1] Anglo-Norman myche.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French miche, inherited from Vulgar Latin *mīcca, an expressive form with a doubled /k/ of Latin mīca (“crumb, particle”), as in tricher.^[3][4][5][1] It is thus a doublet of mie “crumb” and of the learned mica.^[1] Rey finds the old explanation by a borrowing of Middle Dutch micke (“wheaten loaf”) unnecessary.^[4] Littré had preferred it, following Scheler, because the Latin word gave the word for crumb and a loaf is not a crumb,^[6] while Bloch and Wartburg take the Dutch word as a borrowing from Romance.^[5]

Old Occitan mica and Catalan mica also had the sense “crumb”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes uses it in Perceval (1172–1190) for a small loaf of white bread.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Old French miche also meant “crumb”, literally and figuratively, whence the lost phrase ne pas valoir miche “to be worth nothing”.^[4][5] The word gradually came to mean a loaf large enough to feed one man at a meal, as Furetière defines it in 1690, and then, by 1835, a larger round loaf, its modern sense in France.^[3][4] In Switzerland it kept the sense “small round loaf”.^[4]

From the likeness in shape, the plural miches has meant “buttocks” in slang since 1875, later in familiar speech, notably in expressions of fear such as serrer les miches (1901).^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1172–1190 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for a small loaf of white bread.^[3]
• 1212 – The Anglo-Norman form is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1250 – The diminutive micheite appears in Old Picard.^[4]
• 1690 – Furetière defines it as a loaf large enough for one man's meal.^[3][4]
• 1835 – The Académie records the sense “large round loaf”.^[3]
• 1875 – The plural is used in slang for the buttocks.^[3][4]
• 1901 – Serrer les miches is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A large round country loaf.Le boulanger a coupé la miche en quatre.^[7][1]
2. (dated) A small loaf of bread.^[8][6]
3. (Switzerland) A small round loaf.^[4]
4. (familiar, in the plural) The buttocks.^[7][1][4]

Word family

• michette
• michotte

Related words

• mie
• mica
• Latin mīca

Usage notes

Littré records les miches de saint Étienne for stones, because Saint Stephen was stoned to death.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse