moite

Forms

moite (plural moites)^[1] Old French muste (late 12th century) and moiste (about 1206–1213); the spelling moite dates from 1690.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also had moist, moyste, muiste and moite.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French moiste, inherited from Vulgar Latin *mucidus, from Latin mūcidus (“snivelling, mouldy, spoiled”), usually explained as crossed with the descendants of mustum (“must, new wine”).^[6][2][1] The Latin adjective is derived from mūcus (“mucus”).^[2] Bloch and Wartburg see the blend with Old French most “must” as the cause of the change in both form and meaning,^[7] and the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert name the crossing word as musteus (“juicy”).^[4][8] Pierre Guiraud rejected this account and proposed archaic Latin muscitō (“to mix”), hence “to water wine”.^[2][4] Littré, after Diez and Baudry, already weighed both Latin words.^[9]

The unblended Vulgar Latin form survives in Old French moide (13th century, in the Franche-Comté dialect) and in Provençal mouide “pale”.^[6][2][7] Compare Old Occitan moste “damp”,^[6][7] Italian mucido “damp” and Spanish mustio “withered”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as muste in the Sermons de saint Bernard at the end of the 12th century, meaning “damp, moist” and rendering Latin humidum.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

In Old French and until the 16th century moiste was the ordinary word for “damp”; only in the 17th century did humide, borrowed in the 15th century, displace it, leaving moite the weaker sense it has today.^[7] From the 14th century it was used especially of the weather.^[2][6] Furetière noted in 1690 that poets used it of dampness in general and called the sea le moite élément.^[2][6]

In modern French the word describes something slightly damp, especially skin or hands damp with sweat, and a warm, humid atmosphere.^[8][1] In popular speech les avoir moites meant “to be afraid” in the mid-20th century.^[2] The English word moist comes from the Old French adjective.^[5][9]

Timeline

• c. 1190 – Muste appears in the Sermons de saint Bernard.^[3][6]
• c. 1213 – Terre moiste “damp earth” in the Fet des Romains.^[6][3]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini's Trésor speaks of airs moistes.^[6]
• 14th century – Used of damp weather.^[6][2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the spelling moite and the poetic le moite élément “the sea”.^[6][2]
• mid-20th century – Les avoir moites “to be scared” in popular speech.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Slightly damp, especially with sweat: une nuque moite, des doigts moites.^[8][6][1]
2. Of heat or air: humid, muggy.^[8][1]

Word family

• moiteur

Related words

• Latin mūcidus
• Latin mustum

References

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