ronce

Forms

ronce f (plural ronces)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin rumicem, the accusative of the Latin noun for a kind of dart, which in the 4th century, in Marcellus Empiricus, is recorded meaning “bramble”.^[2][3][4] The word first named a throwing weapon and a kind of sorrel or dock, so called from its spear-shaped leaf, and took the sense “bramble” from one of these.^[2][4] Rey notes that the Latin word, with an ending in ⟨-ex⟩ found in many plant names, has no known etymology.^[5]

Littré accepted Diez's derivation as quite possible but found the sense unsatisfying, and pointed to Medieval Latin runcus (“bramble”) and related words tied to runcō (“to weed”).^[6] Cognate with Old Occitan rometz and romeza.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique (about 1175) has it for the thorny shrub whose fruits are wild blackberries: la ronce ou l'ortie “the bramble or the nettle”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the plant the word passed to a low thorny branch (1403) and, figuratively in the plural, to troubles met with (1690, Furetière).^[2][5]

Later technical senses are the irregular, twisting veins of some knotty woods (1842) and then wood that shows them (1936), as in ronce de noyer.^[2][5] Ronce artificielle, a small cable of twisted wire with points, barbed wire (1894), replaced ronces en acier (1885).^[2][5]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – First recorded, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Chronique.^[2]
• 1403 – Used for the thorny stem.^[2][5]
• 1547 – Roncier “bramble bush” is recorded.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière records the figurative plural “troubles”.^[2]
• 1771 – Ronceraie is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1842 – The Académie records the sense “veins in wood”.^[2]
• 1885 – Ronces en acier “steel brambles” appears in an advertisement.^[2]
• 1894 – Ronce artificielle “barbed wire” is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1936 – Ronce de noyer names veined walnut wood.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) A bramble, the thorny, spreading shrub whose fruits are wild blackberries.^[8][9]
2. A thorny stem or low branch of the bramble.^[8][9]
3. Ronce artificielle: barbed wire.^[8][10]
4. The knotted, irregular grain of some woods, and wood that shows it: ronce de noyer.^[8][9]
5. (figurative) In the plural, troubles or difficulties.^[2][1]

Word family

• roncier
• ronceraie

Related words

• Latin rumex

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 556a
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse