rameux

Forms

rameux (feminine rameuse, masculine plural rameux, feminine plural rameuses)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin rāmōsus (“branchy, with many branches”), from rāmus (“branch”).^[2][3][4][5] The TLFi instead derives it within French, from French rame + -eux, from the noun for “branch”, and the GLLF also leans towards a French derivative of the old noun raim (“branch”).^[6][7] Littré notes that Old French said ramu instead.^[8]

Cognate with Italian ramoso, Occitan ramos, Catalan ramós, Spanish ramoso and Portuguese ramoso.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The GLLF dates its first use to the late 13th century, in the Roman du Châtelain de Coucy, of a plant with many branches; the TLFi's earliest example is veine rameuse, a branching vein, in Henri de Mondeville's surgery (1314).^[7][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides plants and branches, Middle French used it of anything with ramifications, such as veins (1314).^[5][6] In hunting it describes the antlers of a stag divided into tines (about 1550), as in Ronsard's grands cerfs au large front rameux.^[5][6][8] In anatomy and natural history it was used of branching arteries and of growths such as coral.^[6]

Timeline

• late 13th century – Used of a plant in the Roman du Châtelain de Coucy.^[7][5]
• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville writes of a veine rameuse.^[6]
• 1455 – The Petit Robert dates the botanical sense.^[3]
• 1556 – Used in hunting of a stag's antlers.^[6]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (botany or literary) Having many branches, ramose, branchu.^[3][6]
2. Divided into branches like a tree, as a vein, an artery or coral.^[6][8]
3. (hunting) Of a stag's antlers: divided into tines.^[7][8]

Related words

• rameau
• rame
• ramure
• ramifier
• Latin rāmus

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter