poney

Forms

poney m (plural poneys)^[1] First written pooni (1801); also pony in Stendhal and Chateaubriand, and the gallicized ponet (1825), which Littré still gives.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English pony, recorded in English as ⟨powny⟩ in 1659 and ⟨poney⟩ in 1751.^[2][3][4] Rey calls the English word Scottish in origin.^[3] It is thought to come from an earlier form ⟨pouleney⟩, taken from Middle French poulenet (“little foal”) (1444), a diminutive of poulain.^[2][5][3] Etymonline gives the same explanation, which it credits to Skeat, and traces the Old French word to Late Latin pullānus (“young of an animal”), from Latin pullus.^[6]

Bloch and Wartburg and the GLLF call the English word of obscure origin.^[4][7] Littré cited Johnson, who did not know its origin unless it was a corruption of puny.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as pooni in 1801, in L. Degrandpré's Voyage dans l'Inde et au Bengale, for a small horse.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed a small, stocky horse with a thick mane.^[3][2] The spelling poney is found in Stendhal in 1822;^[2] in 1828 Lamartine wrote des poneys, comme on dit à Londres “ponies, as they say in London”.^[4] In Canadian French the word is found as early as 1752.^[3]

The feminine ponette (1836, in the Académie), formed on the model of words in -et, names a female pony,^[7][10] and in familiar French, probably through racing slang, a girl or young woman (1894).^[3]

Timeline

• 1801 – First French record, as pooni, in Degrandpré.^[2][9]
• 1822 – The spelling poney in Stendhal.^[2]
• 1825 – The gallicized form ponet.^[2][3]
• 1828 – Lamartine writes des poneys “as they say in London”.^[4]
• 1836 – The feminine ponette is recorded by the Académie.^[7][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pony: a horse of a small breed, stocky and with a thick mane, used for riding, driving or sport.^[2][10][11] Faire du poney is to ride a pony.^[10]

Word family

• ponette

Related words

• poulain
• English pony

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 452a
6. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)