pépie

Forms

pépie f (plural pépies)^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pipie, inherited from Vulgar Latin *pippīta, an altered form of Latin pītuīta (“mucus, phlegm, pip”).^[1][3][4][5] In Vulgar Latin the word first became *pittita, which gave the form above by assimilation, and a 9th-century gloss has pipita.^[3][6][7] The dialect form, widespread in Normandy and Picardy, took its standard shape by dissimilation of the two ⟨i⟩.^[3][6][7] The Grand Robert and Larousse mention P. Guiraud's suggestion of a crossing with a hypothetical word for the pip of a fruit.^[8][9] It is a doublet of pituite.^[1]

Cognate with Italian pipita and Portuguese pevide.^[1][6] The same Vulgar Latin form was borrowed into Germanic, giving German Pips and, probably through Middle Dutch pippe, the English word pip.^[6][1][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded early in the 13th century as pepie, of a capon, in the Chastoiement d'un père à son fils: the pip, a disease of birds that coats the tongue.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word came to mean a person's thirst, first in Montaigne's Essais (1580), above all in avoir la pépie “to be very thirsty”.^[3][4][7] Furetière (1690) records ne pas avoir la pépie for someone who talks or drinks a lot.^[7]

Timeline

• Early 13th century – Pepie in the Chastoiement d'un père à son fils.^[3]
• Late 14th century – English has pippe for the bird disease.^[10]
• 1580 – Montaigne uses it for a person's great thirst.^[3][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records ne pas avoir la pépie.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (zoology) The pip, a hardening of the tip of the tongue in birds.^[2][9]
2. (familiar) Avoir la pépie: to be very thirsty.^[2][11]
3. (familiar) Ne pas avoir la pépie: to talk or drink a lot.^[7]

Related words

• pituite
• Latin pītuīta

Usage notes

The word is feminine.^[2][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 618a
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. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)