perche

perche¹ perch (fish)

Pronunciation

• /pɛʁʃ/^[1]

Forms

perche f (plural perches)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the fish is inherited from Latin perca (“perch”).^[2][3][4][1] The Latin name was borrowed from Ancient Greek πέρκη (pérkē),^[2][1] which the Grand Robert and the GLLF connect with the adjective περκνός (perknós, “dark-spotted”).^[5][6]

The word has few Romance outcomes: Italian perca and Portuguese perca.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in 1170, in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide, as the name of the freshwater fish.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1170 – First recorded in Chrétien de Troyes' Erec et Enide.^[2]
• 1866 – Littré records perche goujonnière, another name of the ruffe.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A perch, a freshwater predatory fish with two dorsal fins, prized for its flesh.^[8][2][9]
2. Perche goujonnière: the ruffe (also called grémille).^[8][6]
3. Perche noire: the black bass.^[2][8]

perche² pole

Pronunciation

• /pɛʁʃ/^[1]

Forms

perche f (plural perches)^[1] Old French also perque, the form used for the measure of length.^[10][2]

Etymology

The word for the pole is inherited from Old French perche, inherited from Latin pertica (“pole, rod, surveyor's rod”).^{[2][10][11][3]} Wiktionary explains the French form by a contracted Vulgar Latin form *pert'ca.^[1] The only sure comparisons for the Latin word outside Italic are in Celtic, according to Rey.^[10]

Cognate with Italian pertica and Spanish pértiga; Catalan perxa and Spanish percha were borrowed from French.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found early in the 12th century, in the Voyage de saint Brendan, for a long wooden pole.^[2][6][10]

Semantic evolution

Special senses grew from the 12th century: in hunting, the main beam of a stag's antlers (about 1165), and the horizontal bar on which birds rest (1170); Marie de France also uses it for a bar to hang clothes on.^[2][10] As perque and then perche, it was a measure of length, and of land, until the end of the Ancien Régime.^[10][2][12]

From 1640 une grande perche is a tall thin person.^[2][10] The figurative tendre la perche à quelqu'un “to throw someone a lifeline” dates from 1867.^[2][13] Later uses are in the circus (1869), gymnastics (1893) and athletics, where la perche also stands for the pole vault, and for the current collector of a tram or trolleybus and the boom of a microphone (perche à son, about 1950).^[2][10][13]

Timeline

• c. 1112 – First recorded in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[6][10]
• c. 1165 – Marie de France uses it for the beam of a stag's antlers.^[2]
• 1170 – Means a bird's perch, in Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• 1294 – Perques is a measure of land.^[2]
• 1640 – Oudin records une grande perche “a tall thin person”.^[2][6]
• 1867 – Tendre la perche à quelqu'un is first found, in Taine.^[2][13]
• 1893 – Used in gymnastics, in Courteline.^[2][13]
• About 1950 – Perche à son names a microphone boom.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A long, thin pole of wood or metal.^[8][12][2]
2. (sports) The pole used in the pole vault, saut à la perche; by extension, the pole vault itself.^[8][10]
3. (skiing) The bar of a ski tow.^[8][1]
4. (film, television) A microphone boom, perche à son.^[8][12]
5. The trolley pole of a tram or trolleybus.^[8][12]
6. (familiar) Une grande perche: a tall, thin person.^[2][10]
7. (hunting) The main beam of a stag's antlers.^[2][10]
8. (historical) An old measure of length, and of land area.^[12][10]

Word family

• percher
• perchoir
• perchis
• perchette
• perchiste