mordache

Forms

mordache f^[1][2]

Etymology

The TLFi takes it as probably a borrowing from Franco-Provençal, or less likely from Occitan, of a word meaning “barnacles” (morailles), though no old text records it there: Latin /ki/ normally became /ʃ/ in Franco-Provençal but /s/ in Occitan.^[1] That word continues Vulgar Latin *mordacia, the feminine of Medieval Latin mordacium (“clasp”) (1304, in Du Cange), from mordaceus (“pincers”) (8th–9th century), a remodelling of Latin mordax, which meant “pincers” about 800 and is the noun use of the adjective meaning “given to biting”.^[1][3] The adjective is from mordeō (“to bite”).^[4][5] Meyer-Lübke instead derived the French word from Italian mordacchia (“pincers”).^[6]

The same Late Latin form gave southern French mordaso, a kind of pincers, and Spanish mordaza “gag”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A document of 1560 in the archives of Cossonay, cited by Godefroy, may already use it for “barnacles”; that sense is certain in Oudin's French–Spanish dictionary of 1607.^[1][5]

Semantic evolution

In 1704 the Trévoux dictionary used it for big tongs for arranging logs in a fireplace.^[5][4] The Encyclopédie (1765) applied it to the soft pieces of wood or metal fitted to the jaws of a vice so that the work is not marked, now the main sense, and the Trévoux of 1771 to the ends of some pincers.^[1][5] Littré adds the small stick that Capuchin novices had to hold in their mouths for breaking silence.^[7] In familiar Swiss French it means a great gift of the gab.^[8]

Timeline

• 1560 – A document from Cossonay, perhaps in the sense “barnacles”.^[1][5]
• 1607 – Oudin records it as “barnacles”.^[1]
• 1704 – The Trévoux dictionary uses it for fireplace tongs.^[5][4]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses it for the soft jaws of a vice.^[1][4]
• 1771 – The Trévoux dictionary uses it for the ends of pincers.^[1][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (technical) A piece of soft metal, wood or other material fitted over the jaws of a vice to hold work without damaging it.^[2][9][8]
2. (technical) The end of certain pincers or tongs.^[2][1]
3. Large tongs for arranging logs in a fireplace.^[4][5]
4. (Switzerland, familiar) A great glibness, the gift of the gab.^[8]

Related words

• mordre
• mordant
• Latin mordax

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
2. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 125b
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)