nappe

Forms

nappe f (plural nappes)^[1] Old French nape; the spelling with ⟨pp⟩ is restored after the Latin word, by 1445 according to Rey, but already in 1273 (Adenet) according to the GLLF.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French nape, inherited from Latin mappa (“napkin, table napkin”).^[4][5][2] The initial /m/ became /n/ by dissimilation under the influence of the following /p/,^[4][6][7] a change Littré compares with nèfle from Latin mespilum.^[8] In Latin the word also named the cloth thrown into the circus to signal the start of the games,^[2] and Bloch and Wartburg report that it was said to be of Punic origin.^[6]

The word is rare outside French proper.^[6] Walloon kept the /m/ in mape,^[8] and Catalan napa means a net.^[9] The English word napkin is a diminutive of Middle English nape “tablecloth”, taken from the Old French word.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as nape about 1140 in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne, for the cloth spread on the table before it is laid for a meal, the sense it still has.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The tablecloth gave several phrases that are now old or gone: mettre la nappe “to have guests to dinner” (1558),^[4][11] trouver la nappe mise “to dine at other people's tables” (1654), and figuratively “to marry money” (1690), and servir la nappe à quelqu'un “to prepare someone's success” (Voltaire, 1772).^[4][2]

Already in Old French the word was applied by likeness to other spread-out cloths and surfaces: the altar cloth of the Catholic liturgy (1319) and a flat stretch of fishing net (1445, nappe a paischeurs).^[4][2] Hunting used it for the deer's hide spread on the ground for the hounds (1665) and for a net to catch birds (1680).^[2][4]

From the shape of a spread tablecloth came the sense of a sheet of falling water (1671) and, at the end of the 18th century in Buffon, a wide expanse of fluid on or under the ground, the source of the geological nappe and of nappe d'eau.^[4][2] Mathematics took it up for a continuous part of a curved surface (Fourier, 1819–1820).^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Nape “tablecloth” appears in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[4]
• 1319 – Nape d'autel “altar cloth” is recorded.^[4][2]
• 1391 – The diminutive napperon is first recorded.^[6][2]
• 1445 – Nappe a paischeurs is used of a flat fishing net, with the spelling ⟨pp⟩.^[4][2]
• 1558 – Mettre la nappe appears in Bonaventure des Périers.^[4][11]
• 1654 – Trouver la nappe mise “to dine at others' expense” is recorded.^[4]
• 1671 – It names a sheet of water falling in a cascade.^[4]
• 1772 – Voltaire writes servir la nappe “to pave the way for someone's success”.^[4][2]
• 1819–1820 – Fourier uses it in mathematics.^[4]
• 1845 – The verb napper is derived from it.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tablecloth: une nappe brodée covered the table for the wedding meal.^[12][13]
2. (liturgy) Nappe d'autel: each of the linen cloths covering an altar.^[12]
3. A wide, flat layer or expanse of a fluid: nappe de brouillard, nappe de pétrole.^[13][14]
4. (geology) A body of water under the ground: nappe phréatique “water table”.^[12][14][1]
5. (mathematics) A connected part of a surface.^[13][4]
6. (fishing, hunting) A stretch of net laid flat.^[13][2]
7. (textiles) A band of carded fibre coming out of the machine.^[14]

Word family

• napperon
• napper

Related words

• mappemonde
• Latin mappa
• English napkin

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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 g h i j k l m n o p q r 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 301a
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. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
12. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
13. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
14. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)