reinette

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ʁɛ.nɛt/^[1]
• IPA: /ʁe.nɛt/^[1]

Forms

reinette f (plural reinettes)^[1] Pomme de renette (1535), pomme renette (1549), pomme de reinette (about 1560–1575, Paré), renette (1611), reinette (1680); also rainette until the 17th century.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is a diminutive of reine (“queen”) with the suffix “-ette”,^[2][3][5][6] used, as “reine” and its derivatives often were, for fruits and plants that were especially prized (compare “roynette” “meadowsweet”).^[3][5] Bloch and Wartburg and Rey hold that it cannot be the same word as rainette (“tree frog”), from Latin “rana”, as was once believed, and explain the spelling “rainette” as a confusion rather than a comparison of the frog's skin with the apple's.^[5][3] Wiktionary instead takes it from Old French “raine” “frog”, influenced by “reine”.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Charles Estienne's Seminarium (1535) has pômes de renette in its French index.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Reinette alone, by ellipsis, is recorded by Richelet (1680).^[3][6] It is a collective name for many varieties of very fragrant eating apple, of different shapes, colours and seasons: reinette grise du Canada, reinette du Mans, reine des reinettes.^[4][7][8] Anglo-Norman already had reinette for meadowsweet and a variety of apple (late 13th century).^[9]

Timeline

• Late 13th century – Anglo-Norman reinette.^[9]
• 1535 – Pômes de renette.^[2]
• 1549 – Pomme renette in Robert Estienne.^[4]
• 1575 – Pommes de reinette in Paré.^[2]
• 1611 – Renette in Cotgrave.^[2]
• 1680 – Reinette in Richelet.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A reinette, pippin (a variety of eating apple): reinette grise du Canada, reine des reinettes.^[7][8][1]

Related words

• reine
• rainette

Usage notes

Reinette “apple” is distinguished in spelling from its homophone rainette “tree frog”.^[8][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)