plantureux

Forms

plantureux (feminine plantureuse, masculine plural plantureux, feminine plural plantureuses)^[1] Old French plantëurose (about 1165), planterouse and plantureus (about 1210).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Old French plenteïveus (also plentiveux), altered by a crossing with heureux.^[2][5][6][7] The TLFi gives this influence only as possible,^[3] while Rey and Bloch and Wartburg explain it by the meaning and by the rhyme eüreux : planteüreux in the Roman de Fauvel (1314).^[2][5]

The Old French adjective is derived from plenteïf (“fertile, abundant”) (first half of the 12th century, in the Oxford Psalter), itself from the noun plenté (“abundance”),^[3][4] which was also spelt planté by association with plante².^[2][6] That noun comes from Latin plēnitās (“fullness, abundance”), from plēnus (“full”).^[2][6][1] Rey and Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin noun survived only in Gallo-Romance and in Romanian plinătate.^[2][5]

Littré instead traced the adjective to an Old French plentor (“plenitude”), and thought it should properly be spelt ⟨plentureux⟩.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is plantëurose in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie (about 1165), meaning “fertile, rich, abundant”.^[3] About 1210 planteurouse de meant “amply provided with”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the adjective described a land or a supply that was rich and plentiful: Brunetto Latini calls the northern part of Africa grasse et plantureuse de touz biens “rich and abundant in all goods”, and Froissart speaks of people plantureux de vivres “well supplied with food”.^[8] Littré noted that the sense “copious, abundant” had grown old but was coming back into use.^[8]

In the 19th century it was applied to a woman's full figure (1833 in Rey, 1838 in the TLFi, in Barbey d'Aurevilly),^[2][3] and in literary use it took the figurative sense “fertile, prolific” (1844).^[2][4] It was used as a noun from 1850.^[3] No noun was formed on the adjective; its only derivative is the adverb plantureusement, first found as plantourousement in the 13th century.^[2][3]

Timeline

• c. 1165 – Plantëurose “fertile, abundant” appears in Benoît's Roman de Troie.^[3]
• c. 1210 – Planteurouse de “amply provided with” is found in the Dolopathos.^[3]
• 13th century – The adverb is recorded as plantourousement.^[3][2]
• 1314 – The Roman de Fauvel rhymes eüreux with planteüreux.^[2][5]
• 1694 – The adverb plantureusement is in the Académie's dictionary.^[3]
• 1838 – Barbey d'Aurevilly uses it of a woman.^[3]
• 1844 – The figurative sense “prolific” appears.^[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very abundant, copious, said especially of food and meals.^[9][8]
2. Of a woman or her body: tall and well-rounded, buxom.^[9][3][1]
3. Producing abundant crops, fertile.^[9][8]

Word family

• plantureusement

Related words

• plein
• plénitude
• Latin plēnitās

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 58b
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert