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rosbif

Etymology and origin of the French word rosbif

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
1691, Massialot
Borrowed from
English roast beef
Ultimate origin
English (roast beef)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ʁɔs.bif/[1]

Forms

rosbif m (plural rosbifs)[1] Ros de bif (1691), rosbif (1727), rôt-de-bif (1740), rostbeef (Voltaire), roast-beef (1764–1803), rochebif (Casanova).[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English roast beef (also “roastbeef”), adapted,[2][3][4][6] formed in 1635 from roast (“roasted”), from Old French “rostir” (see rôtir), and beef, from Old French “boef” through Anglo-Norman (see bœuf).[3][2] English thus took both parts of the word from French and gave the compound back.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Massialot's Cuisinier roial et bourgeois (1691) has deux Ros de Bif, garnis de cotelettes de veau mariné frites, and even a Ros de bif de Mouton.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The word names a joint of beef roasted or for roasting, usually from the sirloin; cooks also used it for the hindquarters of a mutton, lamb or roe deer (1727), which Voltaire mocked: nos maîtres d'hôtel nous parlent aujourd'hui d'un roastbeef de mouton.[3][7][8] The Frenchified rosbif drove out roast-beef except in English contexts.[3]

By metonymy, after mangeur de rosbif, les rosbifs were the English (1774; already Jacques Rosbif for an English merchant in a 1727 play), a use that faded in the 19th century except in jest.[2][3] In Alsace rossbif, crossed with German Ross “horse”, is a dish of braised horse.[3]

Timeline

  • 1635 – English roast beef.[3]
  • 1691 – Ros de bif in Massialot.[2]
  • 1727 – Rosbif, Jacques Rosbif in Boissy.[4][2]
  • 1755 – Rosbif in Voltaire.[2]
  • 1774 – “Englishman”.[2]
  • 1798 – In the Académie.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Roast beef; a joint of beef for roasting: une tranche de rosbif.[9][1]
  2. Rosbif de mouton: the hindquarters of a sheep for roasting.[10][8]
  3. (familiar, pejorative, dated) An Englishman.[9][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 105b
  7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Rosbif.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/rosbif. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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