nid

Forms

nid m (plural nids)^[1] Old French ni, plural niz; the spelling nid, after the Latin, appears in the 15th century.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman had ney, ni and nis, among other spellings.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French ni, inherited from Latin nīdus (“bird's nest, brood”).^[3][6][2] The final ⟨d⟩ is an etymological spelling; the TLFi finds it first in 1480, in Jean Molinet's mystery play of Saint Quentin,^[3] the GLLF in the mid-15th-century Évangiles des quenouilles.^[4]

The Latin word goes back to Proto-Italic *nizdos and Proto-Indo-European *nisdós (“nest”).^[1] Rey and the Petit Robert analyse it as the preverb *ni (“down”) and a form of the root *sed- (“to sit”), so literally “the place where one sits down”.^[6][7] It is related to Old Irish net, Old High German nest and the English word nest, and, with changes, to Lithuanian lizdas.^[6][7]

Cognate with Italian nido, Spanish nido, Occitan nis, Catalan niu and Portuguese ninho.^[7][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1155 in Wace's Roman de Brut, in the plural niz, for a bird's nest.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Already in 1174 Guernes de Pont-Sainte-Maxence used ni for a place of refuge, of Thomas Becket at Pontigny: l'ostera de cel ni “he will remove him from that nest”.^[3][8] About 1500 Commynes applied it to a human home seen as intimate and snug, the sense behind modern petit nid and nid d'amour.^[3][6] The nests of small mammals are recorded in 1551 (nid de souriz), and nid à rats “wretched little lodging” in 1680.^[3][6]

Ronsard used it in 1552 for surroundings that favour the growth of something, and Delille in 1804 for the brood itself.^[3][6] Geology took it up in 1868 for a small isolated pocket of ore, and nid de mitrailleuses “machine-gun nest” is attested in 1917.^[6]

Timeline

• 1155 – Niz appears in Wace's Roman de Brut.^[3]
• 1174 – Used for a place of refuge.^[3][6]
• 1480 – The spelling nid is recorded.^[3][7]
• c. 1500 – Commynes uses it for a person's home.^[3]
• 1552 – Ronsard uses it for a setting where something can develop.^[3]
• 1608 – Trouver la pie au nid “to make a lucky find” is recorded.^[4]
• 1680 – Richelet records nid à rats.^[3]
• 1804 – Delille uses it for a brood.^[3]
• 1868 – Littré records the geological sense.^[3]
• 1917 – Nid de mitrailleuses appears.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nest, the shelter birds build to lay and hatch their eggs and raise their young: Les mésanges ont fait leur nid dans le vieux mur.^[7][3]
2. The nest of other animals: un nid de frelons;^[7][3] nid à rats, a cramped, badly kept dwelling.^[7][3]
3. A person's home, seen as cosy and intimate;^[7][6] nid d'amour, a love nest.^[7][6]
4. (figurative) A place where dangerous people or things are gathered, a den: nid de brigands, nid de vipères, nid de mitrailleuses.^[7][6]
5. nid d'aigle: an eyrie, and figuratively a castle or house built on a high, steep site.^[7][1]
6. (geology) A small isolated pocket of ore.^[3][6]

Word family

• nid-de-poule
• nid-d'abeilles
• nitée
• dénicher

Related words

• niais
• niche²
• nicher
• nidifier
• nidification
• Latin nīdus

Usage notes

The ⟨d⟩ is never pronounced, even in liaison; in the plural the ⟨s⟩ is linked.^[8] The proverb petit à petit, l'oiseau fait son nid means that things are built up little by little.^[7][1] Older phrases include trouver la pie au nid “to have a lucky find”^[8][4] and il n'y a plus que le nid, said when the person or thing sought has gone (1640, Oudin).^[8][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF