Etymologically
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pot

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Pronunciation

Forms

pot m (plural pots)[1] Old French plural pos (Wace, 1160–74); Anglo-Norman also had pote, poit and pott.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pot, inherited from Late Latin pottus, also written potus.[4][5][6] Its origin is debated.[2][7] The TLFi, Bloch and Wartburg and Rey trace it to a pre-Celtic stem *pott- “pot”, which the Franks would have picked up when they settled around Trier and then brought into Gaul: the personal name Pottus is common on pottery from the Trier region, where the name of the object had been used as a pet name for the potter.[2][8][7] The word has no counterpart in Latin, Celtic or the Germanic languages, apart from Low German pot and Dutch pot.[8] Rey suggests the stem may first have expressed roundness, which would link it with pote and potelé.[7] The Petit Robert and Littré instead derive it from Latin pōtus (“drinking; drink”), the content naming its container.[9][10] Wiktionary takes it through Frankish *pott from Proto-Germanic *puttaz.[1]

The same Gallo-Latin word is found in Occitan pot, Catalan pot, Spanish bote, Portuguese pote and Breton pod, and probably gave English pot.[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first use, in the Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century), is figurative, translating Latin olla: Moab le pot de la meie esperance; the concrete sense of a household vessel is found in Wace (1160–74).[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The household vessel soon entered phrases such as pot de (1176–81) and pot à (about 1286), and named a jug of wine set on the table (about 1220) and a liquid measure (about 1176).[2][7] In cooking it was the pot in which meat was boiled, whence en pot (about 1200) and au pot (volaille au pot, 1690), and the compounds pot à fu (1240–80), later pot-au-feu (1673), and pot-pourri (1564).[2][7] Pot de vin meant a tip in 1483 and then, in the 16th century, a bribe.[7]

Figurative phrases include découvrir le pot aux roses (about 1330, after découvrir le pot, about 1180), tourner autour du pot (1538), payer les pots cassés (1609) and sourd comme un pot (before 1720).[2][7] The chamber pot is recorded in 1418 and as pot de chambre in 1542, and the flowerpot in 1625.[2] Technical senses followed, from the artillery pot à feu (1626) to the pot d'échappement (1892), which gave plein pot “flat out” in the mid-20th century.[2][7]

In workmen's slang pot meant the backside (1896), and, from this probably came avoir du pot “to be lucky” (1926) and pas de pot ! (1928).[2][7] Student slang made it a meal (1906) and then a drink, prendre un pot (1909).[2][7]

Timeline

  • early 12th century – Figurative pot in the Oxford Psalter.[2]
  • 1160–74 – Wace uses pos of household vessels.[2]
  • c. 1180 – Descovrir le pot “to reveal the secret”.[2][7]
  • c. 1330 – Le pot aus roses.[2]
  • 1418 – First use for a chamber pot.[2]
  • 1483 – Pot de vin “tip”.[7]
  • 1538 – Estienne records tourner autour du pot.[2]
  • 1609 – Régnier has payer les pots cassez.[2]
  • 1673 – Pot-au-feu as the name of the dish.[7]
  • 1892 – Pot d'échappement “exhaust pipe”.[2]
  • 1909 – Student slang prendre un pot “to have a drink”.[2]
  • 1926 – Avoir du pot “to be lucky”.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A household vessel of earthenware, glass, metal or plastic for holding liquids or food; a jar or jug: un pot de miel, un pot à lait.[9][1]
  2. A cooking pot, poule au pot, a chicken boiled in a pot.[9][1]
  3. A flowerpot (pot de fleurs).[2][9]
  4. A chamber pot, a child's potty.[9][1]
  5. (familiar) A drink; an informal party with drinks: prendre un pot.[9][1]
  6. (familiar) Luck: avoir du pot, pas de pot !.[2][1]
  7. (slang) The backside.[2][1]
  8. Pot d'échappement: the exhaust silencer of a vehicle, plein pot, flat out.[2][7]
  9. Tourner autour du pot: to beat about the bush, payer les pots cassés: to bear the consequences, sourd comme un pot: stone-deaf.[2][9]

Word family

  • pot-au-feu
  • pot-de-vin
  • pot-pourri
  • potage
  • potager
  • potée
  • poterie
  • potier
  • potiche
  • dépoter
  • empoter
  • potard
  • rempoter
  • pot-de-vin

Usage notes

Pot in games, the hole used as a target at marbles (1765) and the stake at cards such as poker (1951), is a separate word in the TLFi, borrowed from Middle Dutch pot, itself from the same word for a pot.[2] In North American French pot “cannabis” is borrowed from English pot.[1] The t is sounded only in a few phrases, such as pot à eau and pot aux roses.[4][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 u v w x y z 27 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 262a
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette