Etymologically
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salmigondis

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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]

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)