saie

Forms

saie f (plural saies)^[1] Also written saye, recorded from 1307.^[2][3] The word was masculine in the 16th century.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *sagia, a neuter plural taken as a feminine singular, from Latin sagum (“short cloak of coarse wool, military cloak”).^{[4][3][5][2][6]} Medieval Latin sagia is found as the name of a cloth in Genoa in 1156.^[4] Polybius calls the Latin word Gaulish.^[3][5][2]

The sense “cloak, coat” of the 16th century is borrowed from Spanish sayo (“man's coat”), itself from saya, of the same Latin origin.^[4][5] Rey says only that the Spanish word may have brought it in.^[3] Old Occitan saya, about 1180, has the same origin.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Partonopeus de Blois (about 1185), is a feminine noun meaning a woollen serge.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages saie was a light woollen serge, especially in the north-east of France.^[5][3] From about 1510 it also named a cloak or coat of coarse cloth with wide sleeves;^[3][4][2] Rabelais writes of Gargantua's saye in 1534, as a masculine noun.^[3][4][2] Amyot used it from 1559 for the short garment worn in war by the Romans, the Gauls and the Persians, and this learned sense, for which sagum was also used from 1665, is now the main one.^[2][3][4] The other senses are archaic.^[3]

Bas de saie was the skirt worn by actors playing ancient Romans.^[7][4]

Timeline

• c. 1185 – Partonopeus de Blois uses saie for a woollen serge.^[4]
• c. 1212 – Anger uses it of the same cloth.^[2][8]
• 1307 – The spelling saye is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1510 – First used for a coarse cloak.^[3][2]
• 1534 – Rabelais uses saye as a masculine noun for a coat.^[4]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for the Roman military cloak.^[2][3]
• 1665 – Sagum is used in French for the same garment.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (history) The short cloak worn by Roman and Gaulish soldiers, the sagum.^[4][9][2]
2. (literary) A short cloak of coarse cloth worn by peasants or shepherds: Le berger s'enveloppait dans sa saie de laine.^[4][2]
3. (dated) A kind of light woollen serge.^[2][7]

Related words

• sayon
• sagum
• Spanish saya

Usage notes

A separate saie is a goldsmith's small brush of pig's bristles, recorded from 1680 in Richelet: it is a Norman and Picard form of soie “bristle”.^[4][8][2] The TLFi records its derivative saietter “to brush (a piece of goldsmith's work)”.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e 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. 11, 74a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert