ramée

Forms

ramée f (plural ramées)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French raim (“branch”) + -ée, the Old French word also spelled ram.^[2][3][4][1] The TLFi derives it from rame “branch, stake”, which is the feminine form of the same Old French word.^[5] The Old French noun is from Latin rāmus (“branch”).^[2][6][7] Littré explains these forms as from a participle *ramata of a verb formed from the Latin noun.^[8]

Cognate with Walloon ramaie, Occitan ramada and Spanish ramada.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Béroul's Tristan (late 12th century) it means a shelter or hut made of leafy branches;^[5][2][4] Rey and the GLLF date this first record to about 1160.^[5][2][4]

Semantic evolution

From the shelter the word passed to the canopy that the branches of trees form, with their twigs and leaves, recorded in Aiol (about 1200);^[5][2][4] the Petit Robert and the Grand Robert also give the sense “forest” from the same period.^[9][3] By the 14th century it also meant branches cut with their leaves for firewood or fodder.^[2][4] Cotgrave in 1611 glossed it as a thicket, the shade of boughs, and an arbour or booth made of branches.^[10]

Outside poetic use the canopy sense has died out, and the cut-branches sense has aged too.^[2] Technical senses came later: a cutting used in planting woods (1875) and the leafy twigs that bird-catchers set inside their nets as perches (1932).^[2][4] In Berry it named an open-air eating place sheltered by canvas stretched over wooden hoops.^[5]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – In Béroul's Tristan it names a shelter of leaves;^[5][2][4] Rey and the GLLF date the first record to about 1160.^[5][2][4]
• c. 1200 – Aiol uses it for the canopy of branches.^[5]
• 14th century – It is used of cut branches with their leaves.^[2][4]
• 1611 – Cotgrave glosses it as a thicket or an arbour of boughs.^[10]
• 1694 – The Académie gives danser sous la ramée and notes that the word is growing old.^[11]
• 1875 – Larousse records it for a cutting used in afforestation.^[4][2]
• 1932 – Larousse records it for the twigs set inside bird-catchers' nets.^[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary) The leafy boughs of a tree or trees, forming a cover: s’asseoir sous la ramée.^{[9][12][13][5]}
2. (dated) Branches cut with their leaves, formerly used as fuel or fodder.^[9][12][4]
3. (forestry) A cutting made of a branch with its twigs.^[13][4]
4. (regional, Berry) A rustic open-air eating place, covered with canvas on wooden hoops.^[5]

Related words

• rameau
• ramure
• ramage
• rame
• Latin rāmus

Usage notes

A separate slang noun ramée, recorded in 1892, is the past participle of ramer “to row” used as a noun; it survives in ne pas en fiche une ramée “to do nothing at all”.^[5][3][9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 d e f g h i j k l m 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 g h i j k 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
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 44a
7. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip
11. ^ Académie française (1694), Le Dictionnaire de l'Académie françoise, 1st ed., Paris: Coignard
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)