poulpe

Forms

poulpe m (plural poulpes)^[1] Early forms poupe (1538), poulpre (1546) and pourpe (1554).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Occitan pourpre, poupre, from Latin polypus (“nasal polyp; octopus”), which was taken over in both senses.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is borrowed from Ancient Greek πολύπους (polúpous).^[1] The ⟨l⟩ of the Latin form was restored, at first only in the spelling, in 1554.^[4][3] It is a doublet of polype, borrowed straight from Latin, and of pieuvre, which came through Norman.^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as poupe in 1538 in Estienne's dictionary, for a polyp in the nose;^[2][6] Rabelais uses poulpre for the mollusc in the Tiers Livre (1546).^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The medical sense was not kept, and was left to the learned word polype.^[3] As the name of the octopus poulpe replaced polype, but pieuvre competes with it; in cooking, poulpe is the only word used for the animal's flesh.^[3] Montaigne contrasted the chameleon, which takes the colour of where it sits, with the poulpe, which gives itself the colour it pleases.^[7]

Timeline

• 1538 – Poupe “nasal polyp” in Estienne's dictionary.^[2]
• 1546 – Rabelais uses poulpre for the mollusc.^[2][4]
• 1554 – Rondelet writes poulpe.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An octopus, a cephalopod with eight arms bearing suckers.^[8][5][1]
2. (cooking) The flesh of the octopus as food.^[3]

Related words

• polype
• pieuvre
• Latin polypus

Usage notes

Littré also records a feminine noun poulpe, an older form of pulpe, which was by then called pulpe.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert