singe

Forms

singe m (plural singes)^[1] Anglo-Norman spellings include cinge, synge and senge.^[2] Rabelais writes cinge (1552).^[3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French singe, inherited from Latin sīmius (“ape, monkey, servile imitator”),^[3][4][5][1] a word of imperial Latin that was more frequent than the classical feminine sīmia of the same meaning.^[3][5] The feminine is the source of Spanish jimia, Catalan ximia, Portuguese simia and Old Occitan simia.^[3][6]

Rey suggests that the Latin word may be connected with sīmus (“snub-nosed”), itself borrowed from Ancient Greek σιμός (simós), a word of unknown origin;^[6] Littré already derived it from this adjective.^[7] Cognate with Italian scimmia, Occitan simi and Catalan simi.^[8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first appears in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134), naming the animal.^[3] In the 13th century Brunetto Latini describes the ape as a beast that gladly imitates what it sees people do.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Since antiquity the ape had been a favourite of jugglers, and it was thought ugly, grimacing, cunning, lecherous and spiteful, even an emissary of the devil, which explains the many figurative uses.^[6] About 1350 it meant a hypocrite, and 16th-century satire used it for priests and monks.^[6] From 1538 it is an imitator, someone who mimics others.^[3][6] It has also meant a very ugly person since 1579.^[3]

Payer en monnaie de singe (Rabelais, 1552), “to pay with fine words”, is probably an allusion to the custom by which showmen paid the toll for their apes by making them perform; the custom is recorded by Étienne Boileau about 1260.^[3][5] Malin comme un singe (1718) shows a misreading of malin, which had meant “wicked like the devil” and came to be understood as “clever”.^[6][9] The proverb on n'apprend pas à un vieux singe à faire la grimace is first found in Balzac (1829).^[3]

In the slang of the journeymen's guilds the ape ranked above the dog, the fox and the rabbit, and so stood for the master; hence singe “boss” (1836, 1840).^[3][6] Printers used it for a compositor (1795),^[6] and army slang for meat (1895), above all tinned beef in the First World War.^[6][3]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – First recorded in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire.^[3]
• c. 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers records that a showman's ape may pay the toll by performing.^[3][7]
• c. 1350 – Used for a hypocrite.^[6]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne records the sense “imitator”.^[3][9]
• 1552 – Payer en monnaie de singe appears in Rabelais.^[3][5]
• 1579 – Used of a very ugly person.^[3]
• 1718 – The Académie records malin comme un singe.^[9][10]
• 1829 – On n'apprend pas à un vieux singe à faire la grimace appears in Balzac.^[3]
• 1840 – Perdiguier uses it for a master or boss.^[3]
• 1895 – Army slang uses it for tinned beef.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monkey or ape, a primate with a bare face, a developed brain and grasping hands and feet.^[11][12]
2. The male of the animal, as opposed to the guenon.^[11][12]
3. (figurative) An ugly person.^[12][3]
4. (figurative) An imitator, someone who mimics others.^[12][3]
5. Faire le singe: to play the fool, to clown about.^[12][9]
6. (slang) The boss.^[3][1]
7. (military slang) Tinned corned beef.^[3][1]

Word family

• singer
• singerie
• singesse

Related words

• simiesque
• Latin sīmius

Usage notes

Common phrases are malin comme un singe “very cunning” and payer en monnaie de singe “to pay with fine words and promises”.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 630b
5. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b c d e f Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)