pourpre

Forms

pourpre m (plural pourpres)^[1] As a noun pourpre is feminine for the dye, the cloth and the dignity, and masculine for the colour and the mollusc; it is also an adjective.^[2][3] Old French purpure (about 980), porpre (about 1130) and the adjective purpre (1170); Anglo-Norman also poirpre.^[2][4][5][6]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French purpure, inherited from Latin purpura (“purple fish, purple dye, purple garment”),^{[7][2][8][1][9]} contracted to porpre and then to the present form in the 12th century.^[2][5] The Latin word named the shellfish also called murex, the dye made from it, and the cloth or garment dyed with it, chosen as a symbol of power.^[2] It was borrowed early, by word of mouth, from Ancient Greek πορφύρα (porphúra) and treated as a native Latin word.^[2][8][1] The Greek word probably named the shellfish before the dye, and Rey thinks it was probably taken from a language of the Near East.^[2]

Cognate with Italian porpora, Old Occitan polpra and Catalan porpra.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as purpure at the end of the 10th century, in the Passion of Clermont, meaning a rich dark-red garment.^[7][2]

Semantic evolution

French inherited the three senses of Latin purpura.^[2] The garment of honour came first, then any dark-red cloth (about 1150); by metonymy the word named the dignity that the colour stood for, and especially that of a cardinal (1647, Vaugelas: la pourpre des Roys, la pourpre des Cardinaux).^[7][2] The feminine also named a bright red colour (about 1130), a reddening of the skin, once a sickly one (about 1550), the flush of the face (1756, Voltaire) and the dark-red dye taken from the murex (1538, Estienne); these uses are now technical or literary.^[2][7]

The adjective “deep, intense red” (about 1170) is more common.^[2] The masculine le pourpre named the red colour from about 1265 and drove out the feminine in that sense in the 16th century; it also names the mollusc whose secretion turns red in the air (1563).^[2] The colour name is used in heraldry (1606), in pourpre de Cassius (1765) for a red pigment, and in anatomy in pourpre rétinien (1881).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 980 – Purpure appears in the Passion of Clermont.^[7][2]
• c. 1130 – Porpre and the sense “bright red colour” appear in Eneas.^[2][5]
• c. 1150 – Pourpre “dark-red cloth” is used in the Roman de Thèbes.^[7]
• c. 1170 – The adjective purpre is recorded.^[2][4]
• c. 1265 – The masculine is used for the colour.^[2]
• 1538 – Estienne uses it for the dye from the murex.^[7][2]
• 1552 – Ronsard uses the derivative empourprer.^[8][2]
• 1606 – The heraldic colour is recorded.^[2]
• 1647 – Vaugelas writes of la pourpre des Cardinaux.^[7][2]
• 1881 – Pourpre rétinien appears in anatomy.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (feminine) A bright red dye made in antiquity from a shellfish, the murex.^[3][11]
2. (feminine, historical or literary) Cloth dyed with this colour, the sign of wealth or high rank.^[3][11]
3. (feminine) The dignity the colour stood for: that of a Roman consul, a sovereign, or a cardinal.^[11][2]
4. (feminine, literary) A bright red colour, especially the flush of the face.^[2][7]
5. (masculine) A deep red colour tending to violet.^[11][2]
6. (masculine, heraldry) purpure, the heraldic colour.^[2][1]
7. (masculine) A sea snail whose secretion gives a red dye.^[2]

Adjective

1. Deep red, crimson: une robe pourpre, Il devint pourpre de colère.^[2][1]

Word family

• empourprer
• pourprer
• pourprin
• empourprement

Related words

• purpurin
• porphyre
• Latin purpura

Usage notes

Littré gives the feminine and the masculine noun as separate headwords, the second under the first's etymology.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 28 29 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
8. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 616b
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette