sardine

Forms

sardine f (plural sardines)^[1] Old French sordine (mid-12th century), refashioned as sardine about 1380.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin sardīna (“sardine”),^[4][5] literally the fish of Sardinia, a derivative of sarda (“a fish”), the noun use of the feminine of sardus (“Sardinian”), from Sardinia.^[2][4][3] The Latin name corresponds to Ancient Greek Σαρδώ (Sardṓ), of unknown origin.^[2] Littré and the Robert dictionaries also cite the Greek σαρδίνη (sardínē), a diminutive of σάρδα (sárda, “a kind of tuna”).^[6][7][8] Klein, quoted by Etymonline, doubts that the Greeks of Aristotle's time got the fish from as far away as Sardinia.^[9] The Old French form sordine was preceded by Old Occitan sardina (about 1080);^[2][7] Picoche counts the word as popular, while the TLFi calls it a borrowing.^[10][4]

Cognate with Italian sardina, Catalan sardina, Spanish sardina and Portuguese sardinha;^[11][12][2] Italian also has sardella, the source of German Sardelle.^[11][12][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found as sordine in the mid-12th century, and as sardine about 1380, for the small edible fish.^[2][3][4] The 14th-century Ménagier de Paris gives a recipe for sardines boiled in water and eaten with mustard.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The fish, eaten fresh or tinned, gave sardines à l'huile (1810), whence boîte de sardines for a crowded place and être serrés comme des sardines, which replaced comme des harengs en caque.^[2] In Canadian French the word also names a small herring.^[2]

From its long silvery shape it became slang (1817) for the stripe of a corporal or non-commissioned officer.^[4][2][13] In the plural it meant the fingers in old slang (1878, serrer les cinq sardines).^[2][4] In the 20th century it named a tent peg, at first one of tapered shape.^[2]

Timeline

• Mid-12th century – First recorded as sordine.^[2][3]
• c. 1380 – The form sardine appears.^[4][2]
• 1765 – sardinier is recorded for a net for sardine fishing.^[2]
• 1810 – Sardines à l'huile is recorded.^[2]
• 1817 – Military slang uses it for an NCO's stripe.^[4][13]
• 1870 – sardinerie is recorded.^[4][2]
• 1878 – In the plural it means the fingers.^[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sardine or pilchard, a small fish of the herring family, abundant in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic.^[7][14]
2. Être serrés comme des sardines: to be packed tight, as in a crowded place: dans le métro, on était serrés comme des sardines.^[7][14][15]
3. (military slang) The stripe of a corporal or non-commissioned officer.^[7][14]
4. (familiar) A tent peg.^[7][15]

Word family

• sardinier
• sardinerie
• sardinelle

Related words

• sardoine
• sardonique
• Latin sardīna

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 p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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, 228a
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
11. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
12. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
13. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
14. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
15. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)