plantain

plantain¹ plant of the genus Plantago

Pronunciation

• /plɑ̃.tɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

plantain m (plural plantains)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the plant ⟨Plantago⟩ is inherited from Old French plantein, inherited from Latin plantāgō, a derivative of planta (“sole of the foot”), so called from the shape of the leaves of some species.^[2][3][4][5] Old French also had the spellings plantaine, planteine and plantin.^[6]

Cognate with Italian piantaggine, Romanian pătlagină, Occitan plantatge, Spanish llantén and Portuguese tanchagem.^[7][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as plantein about 1205, in the Roman de Renart, naming the plant.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its sense, naming a common herb with a rosette of leaves and a spike of small flowers, of which many wild and cultivated species are known.^[3][2] By likeness it named other plants: grand plantain (from the 15th century) and plantain d'eau, the water plantain (from Hulsius, 1596).^[8][5] The botanical names plantaginées (about 1750) and plantaginacées (1932) are derived from the Latin word.^[3]

English borrowed it about 1300 as planteine, from Anglo-French plaunteyne.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1205 – Plantein in the Roman de Renart.^[2]
• c. 1256 – The spelling plantain, in Aldebrandin de Sienne's Régime du corps.^[2]
• c. 1300 – English planteine is borrowed from Anglo-French.^[9]
• 1596 – Plantain d'eau “water plantain” in Hulsius.^[8]
• 1694 – Recorded by the Académie.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A very common herb of the genus Plantago, whose seed is fed to caged birds.^[10][11][2]
2. Plantain d'eau: the water plantain, Alisma.^[11][10][12]

Word family

• plantaginacées

plantain² banana plantain

Pronunciation

• /plɑ̃.tɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

plantain m (plural plantains)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the cooking banana is borrowed from Spanish plátano (“banana”), or its nasalized form plantano.^[3][10][11] The Spanish word, later given up for banana, matches French platane (plane tree), for which Medieval Latin plantanus, a Medieval Latin variant of Latin platanus, gave French forms with a nasal, plantoine and plantain.^[3] Why Spanish used the word for the American banana tree is not explained: similar words in Amerindian languages may be its source, or may come from the Spanish word.^[3] Etymonline, for the English word, calls the Spanish word probably Carib and altered by association with the Spanish name of the plane tree.^[9] The French Wiktionary takes the modern noun as a shortening from French banane plantain.^[13]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1617 as plantin in a travel account, which says the Brazilians have plantains or fig trees “that the Spaniards call plantins”.^[3][10]

Semantic evolution

The present form plantain is attested from 1803 and is used in apposition in banane plantain.^[3][10] It is common in the French of the Antilles and of Africa for this large banana, eaten unripe as a vegetable, and also names the variety of banana tree that bears it.^[3][11] English had plantan from Spanish in the 1550s.^[9]

Timeline

• 1550s – English plantan is borrowed from Spanish.^[9]
• 1617 – Plantin in a travel account about Brazil.^[3][10]
• 1803 – The form plantain.^[3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A variety of bananier of tropical forests whose fruit is eaten cooked as a vegetable.^[11][14][10]
2. The fruit of this tree, the plantain, also banane plantain: Elle a fait frire des plantains pour le dîner.^[14][13][3]