queue

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kø/^[1]

Forms

queue f (plural queues)^[1] Old French cue, coe (1080), keue (about 1155); queue from about 1220.^[2][3][4] The old form coue, used until the early 17th century, survives in couette and couard.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cue, inherited from Latin cōda (“tail”), a variant of cauda.^{[6][2][7][3][1]} The Latin word, also used of the penis, is a popular word of unknown origin.^[2] coda is a doublet, through Italian.^[1][2]

Cognate with Italian coda, Romanian coadă, Old Occitan coa, Catalan cua and Portuguese cauda; Spanish cola has an ⟨l⟩ from culo.^[8][9][7] Littré gives Walloon cowe.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (1080) has it for a horse's tail: blanche la cue, et la crignete jalne “white the tail and the mane yellow”.^[6][9]

Semantic evolution

It was soon said of other appendages: a bird's tail feathers (1080), the tail of a fish (1121–1134, Philippe de Thaon), the stalk of a fruit or leaf (about 1220), the strip of parchment bearing a seal (about 1155), the train of a dress (late 12th century), a comet's tail (1471), a pigtail (1762), a billiard cue (about 1750) and the piano à queue (1806).^[6][2] By about 1155 it also meant “the end”, first of the last ranks of a procession, whence en queue of a train.^[2] Rabelais has the sense “penis” (1534 or 1542).^[2][6]

Many phrases date from the 16th and 17th centuries: la queue entre les jambes (1548), sans queue ni tête (1566, ni teste ni queue), tirer le diable par la queue “to live from hand to mouth” (1651).^[6][2] À la queue leu leu (about 1440) recalls a children's game: they cried à la queue! to line up, then le leu! (the wolf, in Picard form) when the player acting the wolf attacked.^[6] The sense “line of people waiting their turn” appears in 1794, and faire la queue in the Académie dictionary of 1798.^[6][2] Finir en queue de poisson “to fizzle out” (1833, Balzac) renders Horace's desinit in piscem;^[6][2] queue de poisson, cutting in after overtaking, comes from cycling (1909).^[6][2]

Timeline

• 1080 – Cue, a horse's tail, in the Chanson de Roland.^[6][2]
• 1121–1134 – Cüe de peissun, in Philippe de Thaon.^[6]
• c. 1155 – Keue, in Wace; also “the end, the rear”.^[2][4]
• c. 1220 – The spelling queue; the stalk of a fruit.^[2]
• c. 1440 – A la queuleuleu.^[6]
• 1534 – “Penis”, in Rabelais.^[2]
• 1651 – Tirer le diable par la queue, in Scarron.^[6]
• 1794 – A line of people waiting.^[6]
• 1798 – Faire la queue, in the Académie dictionary.^[6][2]
• 1833 – Finir en queue de poisson, in Balzac.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tail (of a mammal, bird, fish or reptile): la queue d'un chien, (cooking) queue de bœuf, oxtail.^[5][1]
2. The stalk of a fruit, flower or leaf: queues de cerises.^[2][6]
3. Something long that hangs down or trails behind: the tail of a comet, the train of a dress, a ponytail (queue-de-cheval).^[2][5]
4. The end, the rear (opposed to tête): la queue du train, en queue de peloton.^[2][5]
5. A line of people waiting, a queue: faire la queue.^[6][1]
6. A billiard cue.^[1][2]
7. The handle of a pan or tool.^[4][5]
8. (vulgar) The penis.^[1][2]
9. Queue de poisson: cutting in sharply after overtaking, finir en queue de poisson, to fizzle out.^[6][2]
10. Sans queue ni tête: making no sense, à la queue leu leu, in single file.^[6][1]

Word family

• queue-de-cheval
• couard
• couette
• queue-de-pie

Related words

• coda
• Latin cauda
• English queue
• English cue

Usage notes

A separate, now historical queue (13th century), perhaps the same word, was a cask holding a muid and a half.^[3][5] In Middle French queue could also mean a whetstone, from Latin cōs.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1242b