ruban

Forms

ruban m (plural rubans)^[1] Old and Middle French riban, recorded from 1394 and probably older.^[2][3] Anglo-Norman spellings include ryban, ribane and rubain.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Middle Dutch ringhband (“necklace, collar”), through the older form riban.^[2][5][3][6] The TLFi explains the /y/ of the modern word as the /i/ of that form rounded before the labial /b/; the older form is recorded only from 1394 but is probably older.^[2] Rey likewise holds that the form with /i/ was the original one despite the dates of the records.^[7]

Following Diez, the Dutch word is a compound of rinc, ring (“ring”) and band (“bond, tie”), so that its proper sense would be “ring-shaped tie”, which fits the Flemish sense “cravat”.^[7][8] Wiktionary traces the two parts to Proto-Germanic *hringaz and *bandą.^[1] Littré still called the origin uncertain.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1260 in Étienne Boileau's book of the Paris trades, meaning a narrow band of fabric used as a tie, fastening or ornament.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Ribbons were mostly worn by women until the 16th century and became common in men's fashion in the 17th and 18th;^[7][9] ruban de queue (1740) was the ribbon that tied a man's hair into a queue, and later, figuratively, a road stretching out of sight.^[7][9] From 1802 the word named the ribbon of a decoration worn in the left buttonhole, as in ruban rouge of the Legion of Honour and ruban violet (1893) of the academic palms;^[2][7] ruban bleu translates English Blue Ribbon, the trophy for the fastest transatlantic liner.^[2][7]

By likeness of shape it came to mean any thin, narrow strip of flexible material (1730), with technical uses in pastry, spinning, the measuring tape and brakes, and the phrases ruban encreur (1877) and ruban magnétique (about 1950).^[7][2] Ruban d'eau (1765) is the bur-reed, a water plant with flat narrow leaves.^[2][7] In slang it meant the road or way (1896) and the pavement (1904), and faire le ruban meant to walk the streets as a prostitute.^[7]

English took the word from French in both forms: riban, riband, whence ribbon, and ruban, which went out of use at the end of the 18th century.^[7]

Timeline

• 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers uses ruban for a band of fabric.^[2][9]
• 1394 – The form riban is recorded.^[2][9]
• 1690 – Furetière records it as a term of the fine arts.^[2]
• 1730 – Savary des Bruslons uses it for a thin strip of flexible material.^[2][7]
• 1740 – Ruban de queue, the ribbon tying a man's queue.^[7][9]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie names the plant ruban d'eau.^[2]
• 1802 – It names the ribbon of a decoration.^[2][7]
• 1893 – Ruban violet for the academic palms.^[7][9]
• 1954 – Ruban magnétique “magnetic tape”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ribbon: a narrow band of fabric used as an ornament or a tie: un ruban de satin noué dans les cheveux.^[10][11]
2. The ribbon of a decoration worn in the buttonhole, as of the Legion of Honour: il a reçu le ruban.^[10][2]
3. A thin, narrow strip of a flexible material: ruban adhésif, ruban encreur, ruban magnétique.^[11][1][7]
4. (literary) Something long and narrow, as a road or river seen from afar.^[11][7]
5. Ruban bleu: the symbolic trophy for the fastest Atlantic crossing, and figuratively a record or first place.^[10][7]

Word family

• rubanier
• enrubanner
• rubanerie

Related words

• bande¹
• hauban
• Middle Dutch ringhband
• English ribbon

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 k l m n o p 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 722a
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)