salmigondis

Pronunciation

• IPA: /sal.mi.ɡɔ̃.di/^[1]

Forms

salmigondis m (invariable)^[1] Salmiguondin (Rabelais, 1552), salmigondi (1596), salmigondis (1627).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French salmiguondin (“stew”), a word of Rabelais, with the ending changed to “-is”.^[2][3][5] Rabelais had already used Salmigondin as the name of a castellany given to Panurge in “Pantagruel” (1532), and a soldier called Salmigondre appears in a 15th-century Passion play.^[2][6] The first part is an expressive enlargement of salemine (“dish of several kinds of fish”) (1393), derived from sel (“salt”) with the collective suffixes “-ain” and “-ine”;^{[2][3][5][7][8]} the second, “-gondin”, is probably condir (“to season”), from Latin condiō (“to season, pickle”), with “c-” turned into “g-”.^{[2][3][5][9][1]} The Grand Robert calls these later elements obscure.^[9]

Ménage derived it from a Latin “salgama” (pickled things) and “conditus” “seasoned”, which Littré doubted; he thought “-gondis” a fanciful syllable added to salmis.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rabelais's Quart Livre (1552) lists salmiguondins among dishes, a stew of several meats.^[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

As a dish, a stew of several reheated meats, the word is now dated; the Académie noted in 1718 that people also said salmi, which became salmis, a game stew (1740).^[2][3][5]

By the same image as salade or macédoine, it soon meant a confused medley of things or people: a 1596 pamphlet was called Hochepot ou Salmigondi des Folz, and Bruscambille (1618) uses it figuratively.^[3][4][2]

Timeline

• 1393 – Salemine, a dish of fish (Ménagier de Paris).^[2][3]
• 1532 – Salmigondin as a place name in Pantagruel.^[2]
• 1552 – Salmiguondin “stew” (Rabelais).^[3][5]
• 1596 – Salmigondi in a pamphlet title.^[4][3]
• 1618 – Figurative “medley” (Bruscambille).^[2][4]
• 1627 – The form salmigondis.^[2][3]
• 1718 – Salmi, later salmis.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (familiar, pejorative) A hodgepodge, a confused medley of things, ideas or people.^[10][11]
2. (dated) A stew of leftover meats; a salmagundi.^[10][11]

Related words

• salmis
• sel
• condiment
• English salmagundi

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
5. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 78a
9. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)