saucière

Forms

saucière f (plural saucières)^[1] Older spelling saussiere, used until the mid-18th century beside saucière (1379).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French sauce + -ière.^[4][5][1] The noun sauce is from Vulgar Latin salsa, the feminine of salsus (“salted”) used as a noun, properly “salty seasoning”.^[5]

Before it, Old French had a masculine of the same meaning, sauser (about 1190) and saucier (1306, still in the 16th century).^[2][3][6][4] Cognate with Italian salsiera.^[1] Littré gives the masculine Walloon sassî and the form sausseron in Eustache Deschamps.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as saussiere in 1328, in the accounts of the silverware of the kings of France, for a vessel holding sauces.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

The meaning has stayed the same since the 14th century: a vessel in which sauce is brought to table.^[2][4] Littré quotes an inventory listing fourteen silver saussieres and a 15th-century one with four small silver ones.^[7] The older masculine saucier went out of use after the 16th century, and the spelling saussiere lasted until the mid-18th century.^[2] Modern dictionaries describe it as having a spout and a handle and being used for sauces, gravies and creams.^[4][8]

Timeline

• c. 1190 – The masculine sauser is recorded with the same meaning.^[2][3]
• 1306 – The masculine saucier.^[2][6]
• 1328 – Saussiere in the royal accounts.^[4][6]
• 1379 – The spelling saucière, in the inventory of the furniture of Charles V.^[6][2]
• mid-18th century – The spelling saussiere goes out of use.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A sauceboat or gravy boat: a vessel, usually with a spout and handle, for serving sauces and gravies at table: une saucière de faïence.^[4][8][1]

Related words

• sauce
• saucier
• saucer
• Latin salsus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert