plaie

Forms

plaie f (plural plaies)^[1] In the 16th century it was still pronounced with two syllables, plai-ie.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French plaie, inherited from Latin plāga (“blow, wound”).^[3][1][4] Rey notes that the Latin word matches Ancient Greek πληγή (plēgḗ, “blow”), whose Doric form had ⟨a⟩, from πλήσσω (plḗssō, “to strike”); it may have been borrowed from Doric Greek through southern Italy, but it can equally be explained as a derivative of plangō (“to strike”), from the same root.^[5]

Cognate with Italian piaga, Old Occitan plaga, Spanish llaga, Portuguese chaga and Romanian plagă.^[6][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100), meaning a wound.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The word kept only the Latin sense of a wound, especially an open one.^[5] Before the end of the 12th century it had taken its main secondary senses: a healed wound or scar (1176–1181, Chrétien de Troyes), now archaic, which led to “lesion on the bark of a tree” (1563, Palissy), and a figurative wound of love or feeling (1176–1181).^[3][5]

The sense “something that does harm” (about 1155, Wace) came from the language of religion, from the wounds of Christ and the ten plagues of Egypt;^[5][8] les plaies d'Égypte is recorded in 1274.^[3] The idea of a scourge later gave way to that of a painful thing with grave effects, and, in familiar speech, of an unbearable person (Courteline, 1888).^[5][3] Phrases include plaies et bosses (1598 in Rey, 1653 in the TLFi), rouvrir les plaies “to revive a sorrow” (1672), plaie d'argent n'est pas mortelle (1812) and mettre le doigt sur la plaie (1835).^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Plaie “wound” appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[3]
• c. 1155 – Wace uses it of something that does harm.^[3][5]
• 1176–1181 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for a scar and for the wound of love.^[3]
• 1274 – Les plaies d'Égypte is recorded.^[3]
• 1563 – Palissy uses it for a lesion on the bark of a tree.^[3]
• 1672 – Fléchier writes rouvrir les plaies “to revive a sorrow”.^[3]
• 1798 – The Académie records plaie d'argent peut guérir.^[3]
• 1835 – The Académie records mettre le doigt sur la plaie.^[3][5]
• 1888 – Courteline uses une plaie for an unbearable person or thing.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A wound, an opening in the flesh caused by an injury or an operation: nettoyer une plaie au genou.^[9][3]
2. (figurative) A moral wound, a grief: rouvrir les plaies.^[3][5]
3. A scourge or calamity: les plaies d'Égypte.^[3][1]
4. (familiar) An unbearable person or thing: quelle plaie !.^[5][10]
5. Mettre le doigt sur la plaie: to put one's finger on the sore point.^[3][5]
6. Remuer le couteau dans la plaie: to rub salt in the wound.^[1]

Related words

• Latin plāga

Usage notes

Plaie d'argent n'est pas mortelle (“loss of money is not fatal”) is recorded from 1812.^[3][10] Old French also had a verb plaier “to wound” formed from the noun.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 10b
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse