panse

Forms

panse f (plural panses)^[1] Old French pance, the usual spelling until the 15th century;^[2][3][4] panse from about 1360.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pance, inherited from Latin pantex (“intestines, belly”).^[5][2][1][6] The Latin word, mostly used in the plural, was a popular word competing with Latin venter, found in Plautus;^[5][7] Rey notes that it passed into all the Romance languages and that its origin has not been found.^[5][7]

Cognate with Italian pancia, Catalan panxa, Spanish panza and Portuguese pança.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Wace's Brut (1155) it is a man's belly.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

Panse came into French as a familiar word for the belly, especially in emplir la pance (about 1212), later se remplir la panse;^[5][7][3] Richelet in 1680 calls this use burlesque.^[5][7][3] Since Old French it has also meant an animal's belly (1188), and in particular the first stomach of ruminants (1562, of the horse).^[5][7][9]

From Middle French, by likeness of shape, it named the swelling part of a vessel (1379), of a baluster (1751) and the round part of certain letters (1680, of the a).^[5][7] Hence ne faire jamais une panse d'a, “never write a line”, said of an author (before 1648).^[5][7] Littré also gives it as the name of a white grape variety.^[7][8]

Timeline

• 1155 – First record, in Wace's Brut.^[5]
• 1188 – Used of an animal's belly.^[5][7]
• c. 1212 – Emplir la pance is recorded.^[5]
• c. 1225 – The derivative pansu appears.^[7]
• c. 1360 – The spelling panse is used by Froissart.^[3]
• 1379 – It names the swelling part of a vase.^[5][7]
• 1562 – Used of a horse's stomach.^[7][9]
• 1680 – Richelet records panse for the body of the letter a.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (familiar) A big belly, a paunch: se remplir la panse, to eat one's fill.^[9][5]
2. (zoology) The rumen, the first stomach of ruminants.^[9][5]
3. The bulging part of a vessel or object: la panse d'une bouteille.^[9][5]
4. The rounded part of a letter: une panse d'a.^[9][8]

Word family

• pansu

Usage notes

Littré records avoir les yeux plus grands que la panse, “to have eyes bigger than one's stomach”, and se faire crever la panse, to get oneself killed in war or a duel.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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, 565b
7. ^ 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
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert