Etymologically
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morceau

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /mɔʁ.so/[1]

Forms

morceau m (plural morceaux)[1] Old French morsel (1120–50), morcel (about 1155); morceau from 1480.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from French mors + -eau, from Old French mors “bite, morsel”, with the diminutive suffix “-el”, later “-eau”.[5][4][6][2][7] “Mors” is from Latin morsus (“bite”), from mordeō (“to bite”) (see mordre).[2][1] Wiktionary has it inherited from Medieval Latin morsellum.[1]

Compare Italian morsello and Old Occitan morsel; English morsel comes from the Old French word.[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Grant mal fist Adam (1120–50) has morsel for a piece of food bitten off, Wace (1155) uses it for a piece of something edible.[5]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century the link with biting faded and morceau came to mean any piece of a body or substance.[4] Molière (1666) uses it for a passage of a literary work, and Furetière (1690) for a work of art, whence a piece of music.[5]

Avaler un morceau “to suffer an annoyance” is from the 16th century, manger le morceau “to confess, inform” (1798) may come from it, and has variants such as cracher le morceau.[4][5] Emporter le morceau “to win the day” is from 1866.[5]

Timeline

  • 1120–50 – Morsel “mouthful”.[5]
  • 1155 – A piece of food, Wace.[5]
  • 13th century – A piece of anything.[4]
  • 1480 – Morceau.[2]
  • 1666 – A passage of a work, Molière.[5]
  • 1798 – Manger le morceau.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piece, bit (of food): un morceau de pain, un morceau de sucre, manger un morceau, to have a bite.[8][1]
  2. A piece, fragment (of something): un morceau de bois, en morceaux.[1][4]
  3. A piece (of music, literature): un morceau de piano, morceaux choisis.[5][1]
  4. (slang) Manger or cracher le morceau: to spill the beans.[5][1]

Word family

  • morceler
  • morcellement
  • mordre
  • mors
  • morsure
  • English morsel

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 144b
  8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert