motte

Forms

motte f (plural mottes)^[1] Old French mote;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also moete and mout.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French mote (“mound, bank of earth”), from Vulgar Latin probably from a pre-Latin radical *mutt(a).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} Medieval Latin motta is recorded from 836 in Italy for a clod of earth, in 1040 in a cartulary of Vendôme for a mound, and in 1112 for a lord's residence or castle.^[4][5]

Others take it as Germanic: Meyer-Lübke's REW labels it so,^[9] and Wiktionary suggests Frankish *motta (“mud, peat, turf”), from Proto-Germanic *mutô (“dirt, mud”).^[1] Littré weighed Germanic words such as Dutch moet against a Gaelic word meaning “hill”.^[10]

Cognate with Old Occitan mota, Italian motta, Spanish mota and Portuguese mota, and with northern Italian dialect words for a mound or heap.^[6][10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1165 in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie for a mound or hillock of earth;^[4] in Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174) it is the manor house built on such a mound.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The old sense “mound, knoll”, with the castle built on it, is still alive in the dialects and in many place names and surnames (Mothe, Lamotte, Delamotte, Mottet).^[5][6] The modern sense, a lump of compact earth such as the plough turns up, is recorded from 1213.^[4][5]

By likeness of shape it named the pubic mound (about 1370).^[4][5] In the 17th century it came to mean a block of butter sold by retail (1635) and a cake of spent tan used as fuel (1680); potters used it for the lump of clay put on the wheel (1765).^[4][5] In falconry prendre motte (1671) is said of a bird that lands on the ground instead of perching.^[11][10] In Canadian French motte or motte de neige is a snowball.^[5]

Timeline

• 836 – Medieval Latin motta “clod of earth” is recorded in Italy.^[4]
• 1160–1174 – Wace uses it for a manor built on a mound.^[4]
• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for a hillock.^[4]
• 1213 – The Fet des Romains uses it for a lump of earth.^[4]
• c. 1370 – Jean Le Fèvre uses it for the mons veneris.^[4]
• 1555 – The verb émotter is recorded.^[6]
• 1635 – First record of a block of butter.^[4][5]
• 1680 – Richelet records a cake of tan used as fuel.^[4]
• 1759 – The bird motteux is named.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A clod of compact earth, such as a plough turns up: motte de gazon, a turf.^[3][4]
2. (gardening) The ball of earth around a plant's roots: replanter un rosier en motte.^[10][11]
3. Motte de beurre: a block of butter sold by the dairyman.^[3]
4. (dated) A natural or artificial mound on which a castle, a windmill or a house was built.^[4]
5. (slang) The female pubis.^[3][4]
6. (Canada) A snowball.^[5]

Word family

• motteux
• motton
• motter
• émotter

Usage notes

In Quebec the derivative motton means a lump, and avoir le motton is to have a lump in one's throat.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 294a
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse