poison

Forms

poison m or (Louisiana) f (plural poisons)^[1] Old French poisun, puisun, puison, feminine until the 16th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French poison, inherited from Latin pōtiō (“a drinking, a drink, a medicinal draught, a poisoned draught, a love potion”).^[2][5][4] The Latin noun was formed on the supine of pōtō (“to drink”), a frequent verb that did not survive in the Romance languages, where bibō took its place.^[4] The narrowing from “drink” to “poisoned drink” had already begun in Late Latin, a development Bloch and Wartburg and Rey compare with that of the Greek word behind pharmacie.^[5][4]

The word was feminine like its Latin source until the 16th century or the beginning of the 17th, and it is still feminine in most dialects;^[2][5][4] the masculine probably came from venin, from Latin venēnum.^[2][4] The learned potion is a doublet taken straight from the Latin word.^[1][4] Cognate with Occitan poizo, and with the borrowings English poison and English potion.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record is in the Judeo-French glosses of Rashi, at the end of the 11th century, with the general sense “a drink”.^[2][4] From 1155, in Wace's Brut, it is usually a suspicious or poisoned draught.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Old French the word kept the whole Latin range: a drink, a poisoned draught (1155), a healing potion or remedy (about 1165) and a magic philtre (about 1165).^[2][4] Rey explains the loss of the favourable senses by the awkwardness of a word meaning both a cure and a killing drink; the sense “remedy” passed to the learned doublet potion.^[4]

The modern sense “deadly substance”, whatever its form, is found from 1342, and the figurative “something pernicious” from 1544 (Calvin).^[2][4] Middle French also used it for poisoning (1558) and, in 16th-century love poetry, for a beloved woman (1554); later it meant a stench (before 1646) and a very bad dish (1665), senses that have gone.^[2][4] Exaggerating, it came to name any harmful food or drink (about 1695).^[4]

Popular speech made it an insult for a woman (1789, Restif de la Bretonne), then for a disagreeable person and an insufferable child, and a word for a tiresome chore.^[2][4][7][8] Its derivative empoisonner is recorded about 1130.^[4]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Poison “drink” in Rashi's glosses.^[2]
• 1155 – Wace uses it for a poisoned draught.^[2][4]
• c. 1160 – Mortal poison in the Roman d'Eneas.^[2]
• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses it for a healing potion and for a magic philtre.^[2]
• 1342 – First record of the sense “deadly substance”.^[2][4]
• 1544 – Calvin uses it figuratively for something pernicious.^[2]
• 16th century – The masculine gender takes over.^[4]
• 1789 – Restif de la Bretonne uses it as an insult for a woman.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A poison: a substance that disturbs or stops the vital functions of a living body and can kill.^[9][8][10]
2. (literary) Something with a harmful, pernicious influence.^[8][2]
3. (familiar) An unpleasant, spiteful person, or an insufferable child: cette gamine est un vrai poison.^[8][7]
4. (familiar) A tedious chore.^[8][4]
5. (chemistry, physics) A substance that hinders a reaction or a process, such as a catalyst poison or a fission poison.^[8][11]
6. (Louisiana) A herbicide or insecticide.^[1]

Word family

• antipoison
• contrepoison
• empoisonnement
• empoisonner

Related words

• potion
• venin
• Latin pōtiō
• English poison

Usage notes

The old feminine survives in many dialects and in Louisiana French,^[2][1] and in the insult une poison for a woman.^[7][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse