mouton

Forms

mouton m (plural moutons)^[1] Old French motun, multun, multon, mutun.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman moltoun, moton.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French multun, inherited from Vulgar Latin *multō (“wether”), from Gaulish *multo, a Gaulish word deduced from Old Irish molt, Welsh mollt and Breton maout “castrated male raised for slaughter”.^{[4][3][6][7][8]} The Gaulish word probably first meant “castrated male”, and came to name both the ram (from the 9th century; the sense survives in the west and south) and the sheep in general.^[4][3] Wiktionary traces it further to Proto-Celtic *moltos.^[1] The Grand Robert, after P. Guiraud, adds a possible influence of Old French mout (“blunted”), from Latin mutilus.^[2][3]

Latin ovis had been the general word for the sheep and then the ewe, and Gallo-Romance first used vervex (see brebis) for the species, but it soon gave way to the Gaulish word.^[4][3] Cognate with Italian montone, Old Occitan molto and Catalan moltó.^[8][9][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert and the GLLF date motun to the late 11th century, in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[2][10] The TLFi's first record is the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century), where multun translates Latin arietes “rams”: Li mont s'esledecerent sicume multun “the mountains skipped like rams”.^[4][9]

Semantic evolution

From “ram” the word narrowed early to the wether raised for slaughter (1155, Wace) and widened to the animal in general, despite brebis and agneau.^[4][3] By metonymy it named the meat (about 1223), the leather (1260) and sheepskin worked as fur (1821).^[4][3] English has two words where French has one: sheep for the animal, and mutton, borrowed from Old French moton about 1300, for the meat.^[3][11]

As the ram, mouton meant a battering ram (1155), then a pile driver (1490) and the beam from which a bell hangs (1690).^[4][3] The animal's supposed meekness made it a credulous person easily led (1566) and a gentle, simple one (1611); in prison slang (1769) it was a fake inmate who wins a prisoner's confidence and informs on him.^[4][3] From its woolly look, the plural names small foam-crested waves (1690), small fleecy clouds (1807) and balls of dust.^[3][4][12]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Motun in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[2][10]
• 1100–1150 – Multun “ram” in the Oxford Psalter.^[4]
• 1155 – Wace uses it for the wether raised for meat, and for a battering ram.^[4][3]
• c. 1223 – Meat of the sheep, in Gautier de Coinci.^[4]
• 1260 – Sheep leather, in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[4]
• c. 1300 – English mutton is borrowed from Old French.^[11]
• c. 1480 – Revenons a noz moutons in Coquillart.^[4]
• 1490 – A pile driver.^[4]
• 1566 – A credulous person, in Henri Estienne.^[4]
• 1694 – The Académie records moutons “foam-crested waves”.^[4]
• 1769 – Prison slang “informer posing as an inmate”.^[4][3]
• Before 1778 – Moutons de Panurge in Voltaire.^[4][3]
• 1803 – Mouton enragé.^[4]
• 1960s – Mouton noir, a calque of English black sheep.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sheep, the domestic ruminant raised for its wool, meat and milk.^[12][4]
2. (specifically) A castrated male sheep raised for slaughter, a wether.^[12][9]
3. mutton, the meat of the sheep: un gigot de mouton.^[12][4]
4. Sheepskin, as fur or leather.^[12][4]
5. (figurative) A meek, gullible person who is easily led, or who follows the crowd;^[12][4][3] moutons de Panurge: people who blindly follow others.^[12][4][3]
6. Mouton à cinq pattes: something or someone extremely rare.^[12][3]
7. Mouton noir: a black sheep, an unwanted person in a group.^[12][3]
8. Mouton enragé: a mild person who suddenly flies into a rage.^[12][4]
9. (slang) A prisoner planted in a cell to win another's confidence and report it to the police, a stool pigeon.^[12][4]
10. (plural) Small foam-crested waves, whitecaps; small fleecy clouds; balls of dust.^[12][4][3]
11. (technical) A pile driver or ram; the beam that holds a bell.^[4][3]

Word family

• saute-mouton
• moutonner
• moutonneux
• moutonnier

Related words

• English mutton

Usage notes

Revenons à nos moutons “let us get back to the point” alludes to the Farce de Maître Pathelin (1464), where the judge recalls the parties to their case of stolen sheep.^[4][3] Moutons de Panurge alludes to the episode of Rabelais's Quart Livre (1552) in which all of Dindenault's sheep leap into the sea after one is thrown in.^[4][3] Mouton à cinq pattes follows an older cinq piez de mouton of the late 15th century.^[3][4]

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique 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 r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ 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, 205b
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert