serpe

Forms

serpe f (plural serpes)^[1] Old French sarpe;^[2][3] serpe is a 13th-century remaking.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg date serpe to 1380.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French sarpe, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sarpa, from sarpō (“to prune vines, lop”).^[5][2][4][1] Rey relates the Latin verb, like Ancient Greek ἅρπη (hárpē, “scythe, sickle, hook”), to an Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *serp- “hooked tool”.^[2] Littré compared it with the Greek word and with Old High German scarf (“sharp”).^[6]

Cognate with Old Occitan sarpa.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

As sarpe it is found in the Roman de Renart (about 1200), for a tool with a broad crescent-shaped blade and a short handle.^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has always named the pruning tool.^[2] Villon used it, about 1460, for a cutpurse.^[2] Because lopping is rough work, fait à la serpe (1694, j'en ferais autant avec une serpe 1690) was said of crude handiwork or writing.^[5][2] Fait avec une serpe (1718) meant “badly built” of a person; today one says taillé à la serpe (Zola, 1887) or à coups de serpe (Académie, 1935) of a face with angular features.^[2] In the plural, serpes named a cutting iron used to sever the enemy ship's cables when boarding (1680 to 1771).^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Sarpe in the Roman de Renart.^[5][3]
• 13th century – The form serpe appears.^[2][3]
• c. 1350 – The diminutive sarpeste is recorded, forerunner of serpette.^[2]
• c. 1460 – Villon uses it for a cutpurse.^[2]
• 1674 – It is used for a knife.^[5]
• 1694 – The Académie records fait à la serpe.^[5][2]
• 1718 – Fait avec une serpe “badly built”.^[5][2]
• 1887 – Zola writes of a face taillé à la serpe.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A billhook, a tool with a broad blade curved at the end and a short handle, for lopping and pruning branches.^[8][5]
2. Taillé à la serpe, à coups de serpe: with rough, angular lines, said especially of a face: un visage taillé à la serpe.^[8][2]
3. Fait à la serpe: crudely made.^[5][2]

Word family

• serpette
• serpillon

Related words

• sarment
• Latin sarpō

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 n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
6. ^ 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. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert