sapin

Forms

sapin m (plural sapins)^[1] Old French also had the simple form sap, from the end of the 11th century, which lasted until the 16th century and survives in dialects.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin sappinus (“a kind of fir”), a rare word recorded in Pliny.^[4][3][5][6] Old French also had sap, probably the older form, from a pre-Latin *sappus, and the Latin word is generally explained as a compound of that word with pīnus (“pine”).^[4][3][2] The TLFi calls this form simply pre-Latin, Bloch and Wartburg and Rey think it perhaps Gaulish, while the Grand Robert, the GLLF and the Petit Robert call it Gaulish.^{[4][3][2][6][7][8]} P. Guiraud instead connects the Old French word with a supposed Gallo-Romance verb meaning “to produce sap”, inferred from sapa (“boiled-down must”), the fir being the tree that yields sap.^[2][6]

Cognate with Occitan sapin, Southern Italian and Sicilian zappino and Picard sape.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure's Roman de Troie (about 1165), where the word means the wood of the tree, and the tree itself is recorded about 1179 in the Roman de Renart.^[4] Rey dates an adjectival use “made of fir wood” to about 1120, and the GLLF has the tree about 1100.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The word names a resinous tree with a straight trunk and evergreen needles, and by metonymy its wood (13th century).^[2] Because fir was much used in joinery, it meant a beam (1458) and in slang (1628) a plank or, later, a floor (1836).^[2]

Coffins were made of fir, so sentir le sapin meant “not to have long to live” (1694), and surtout de sapin (1695) and redingote de sapin (1881) were jocular names for a coffin, then sapin alone (1867).^[4][2] A cab was called a sapin from 1723, the wood being used to build it, and in the 20th century the word was applied to a taxi.^[4][2][7] Since 1875 everyday usage has applied it to other conifers such as the spruce and the pine, a use botanists consider loose, and sapin de Noël names the decorated Christmas tree.^[2][8] In Quebec, passer un sapin à quelqu'un means to cheat him.^[2]

Timeline

• End of the 11th century – Old French sap is found in Rashi's glosses.^[4][7]
• c. 1120 – An adjective sapin “of fir wood” is recorded.^[2]
• c. 1165 – Benoît de Sainte-Maure uses sapin for the wood.^[4]
• c. 1179 – The Roman de Renart uses it for the tree.^[4]
• 1458 – It is used for a beam.^[2]
• 1694 – The Académie records sentir le sapin.^[4]
• 1695 – Regnard uses surtout de sapin for a coffin.^[4]
• 1723 – It names a cab.^[4][2]
• 1867 – Delvau records sapin alone for a coffin.^[4][7]
• 1875 – It is used loosely for other conifers.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fir, a resinous conifer with a straight trunk and evergreen needles.^[8][10]
2. In everyday use, a similar conifer such as a spruce or pine: sapin de Noël, a Christmas tree.^[8][10]
3. Fir wood, the timber of this tree: Une table en sapin.^[10][8]
4. Sentir le sapin: to have not long to live, the coffin being made of fir.^[11][4]
5. (dated, familiar) A cab or taxi.^[4][7]

Word family

• sapine
• sapinière
• sapinette

Related words

• pin
• Latin sappinus

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 o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 214b
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette