ruminant

Forms

ruminant (feminine ruminante, masculine plural ruminants, feminine plural ruminantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is the present participle from French ruminer, used as an adjective and then as a noun.^[2][3][4] Ruminer is from Latin rūminor (“to chew the cud”),^[5][1] from rūmen (“first stomach of ruminants”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pierre Belon first uses the adjective in 1553, in his Observations, of animals that chew the cud.^[2][3][7]

Semantic evolution

The adjective is recorded as bestes ruminantes “ruminant beasts” in 1555, the date the Grand Robert and Bloch and Wartburg give.^[5][4] It became a noun for an animal that chews the cud in 1680 (the TLFi, citing the FEW, gives 1688, in Claude Perrault's Essais de physique),^[3][7][2] and, in the plural, for the group of herbivorous mammals with a paunch.^[3][8] Littré notes that the ruminants formed the seventh order of Cuvier's classification of mammals.^[9] English ruminant (1660s) is from Latin, not from French.^[10]

Timeline

• 1553 – Belon uses the adjective.^[2][7]
• 1555 – Bestes ruminantes.^[5]
• 1680 – First used as a noun.^[3][7][8]
• 1688 – The TLFi's date for the noun, in Claude Perrault.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. That ruminates, chews the cud.^[8][2][1]

Noun

1. A ruminant, an animal that chews the cud.^[8][1]
2. (zoology, plural) Les ruminants: the group of even-toed herbivorous mammals whose four-chambered stomach brings food back to the mouth.^[8][2]

Related words

• ruminer
• rumination
• Latin rūmen

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com