noix

Forms

noix f (invariable)^[1] Old French noiz (1155), noix from the 13th century.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also had neys, nois and noyz.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French noiz, inherited from Latin nux (“nut, walnut”).^[5][2][1][6] The Latin word named any fruit with a hard shell and kernel, especially the walnut, and in the plural also the walnut tree.^[2][7]

Cognate with Romanian nucă, Italian noce, Occitan noga, Catalan nou, Spanish nuez and Portuguese noz.^[8][9] Rey compares Old Norse hnot and an Irish word, and takes them back to an Indo-European root found only in the West;^[2] the Petit Robert calls the Latin word perhaps related to English nut, German Nuss and Dutch noot.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as noiz in Wace's Brut (1155), meaning the fruit of the walnut tree.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

With a qualifier the word named the fruit of other trees with woody shells (1179): noix de coudre for the hazelnut, then noix vomique (13th century), noix de coco (1610) and noix de cajou (1694, as noix d'acajou).^[2][5] In Old French it stood for a thing of very little worth after a negative, an idea found again, without continuity, in à la noix “worthless” (1896 or 1901) and in the familiar use for a stupid person (1915).^[2][5] Une noix de beurre, a small amount, dates from 1931.^[2][5]

Technical senses grew from the idea of a swelling or rounded part: the notched nut of a crossbow (about 1195), a part of the gunlock (1690), and in butchery the fleshy part of a leg of mutton (1690) or of veal (1762).^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1155 – Noiz in Wace's Brut.^[5]
• c. 1179 – Noiz de coudre, the hazelnut, in the Roman de Renart.^[5]
• c. 1195 – The nut of a crossbow, in Ambroise.^[5]
• 1610 – Noix de cocos.^[5]
• 1690 – The fleshy part of a leg of mutton.^[2]
• 1901 – À la noix “worthless” in Bruant.^[5]
• 1931 – “A small amount” in Giono.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A walnut, the fruit of the noyer²: casser des noix.^[8][5]
2. Any of various nuts like it: noix de coco, noix de cajou, noix muscade.^[8][5]
3. A small lump: une noix de beurre.^[8][2]
4. (butchery) A rounded fleshy cut: noix de veau.^[8][2]
5. The edible muscle of a scallop.^[8]
6. (technical) The notched nut of a crossbow, and other rounded parts of mechanisms.^[5][2]
7. (familiar, dated) A fool: une vieille noix.^[8][2]
8. À la noix: worthless, of poor quality.^[8][5]

Word family

• casse-noix
• noisette
• noyer²

Related words

• nuciculteur
• noyau
• Latin nux

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 254b
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter