sableux

Forms

sableux (feminine sableuse, masculine plural sableux, feminine plural sableuses)^[1] Anglo-Norman sabelous.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French sable¹ + -eux.^[2][4] Rey calls the modern form a remaking of sabelous.^[3] Sable is a back-formation from Old French sablon (“sand”), from Latin sabulō, derived from sabulum (“sand, gravel”).^[5] The Meyer-Lübke dictionary instead lists the word under sabulōsus (“sandy”), with Italian sabbioso and Occitan sablos, and Wiktionary also traces it to this Latin word.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as sabelous, meaning sandy, in Walter of Henley's Hosebondrie, an Anglo-Norman treatise on husbandry of about 1285.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the word only from 1559 and note an Old Provençal sablos of 1275.^[7][8] Littré quotes Palissy in the 16th century on looking for water in sandy ground.^[9] The word means “of the nature of sand” or “containing sand”, beside the more common sablonneux.^[3][2] Littré also lists flour mixed with sand and, for a fabric, a ground of fine close dots.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1285 – Sabelous in Walter of Henley's Hosebondrie.^[2]
• 1559 – The modern form is recorded.^[5][7]
• 16th century – Palissy writes of terres sableuses.^[9]

Meanings

Adjective

1. sandy; containing sand: un terrain sableux, une rive sableuse.^[2][8][10]
2. Mixed with sand: farine sableuse.^[9]
3. (textiles) Fond sableux: a ground of a fabric covered with tiny close dots.^[9]

Related words

• sablon
• sablonneux
• Latin sabulum

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)