Etymologically
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queue

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Pronunciation

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
  • 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