Etymologically
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sobriquet

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /sɔ.bʁi.kɛ/[1]

Forms

sobriquet m (plural sobriquets)[1] Middle French soubzbriquet (14th century), soubriquet, soubricquet (15th century); sobriquet from the late 16th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

The origin is unknown.[5][6][7][8] Its earliest sense, “a chuck under the chin”, suggests a development from a blow to a mocking gesture, a mocking word and finally a nickname;[6][2] Bloch and Wartburg compare Occitan escaissar, which went from “to break the jaw, tear” to “to mock, give nicknames”, with the noun escais (“nickname”).[5][6]

Guiraud explained it as sous “under” and briquet “striking steel”: a gesture of rubbing the finger under the chin as if striking a light.[2][3] The TLFi also rejects derivations from Latin beccus (“beak”) and Middle Dutch bricke, and thinks the two parts may be no more than a reshaping of some unknown base.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a document of 1355 a man strikes another under the chin “in the way called le soubriquet”, and in 1398 two little blows with the fingers under the chin are called soubzbriquez.[6][9]

Semantic evolution

In the 1440s it meant “mockery, a jibe”, a sense common in the 16th century;[6] Brantôme uses it of the jokes Roman soldiers made about Caesar.[9] Robert Estienne's Latin dictionary of 1531 has donner un sobriquet “to give a nickname”,[6][10] and the modern sense, a mocking or familiar nickname, has been the only one since.[2][7]

Timeline

  • 1355 – “A chuck under the chin”.[6][7]
  • 1440s – “Mockery”.[6]
  • 1531 – “Nickname”, in Robert Estienne.[6][10]
  • late 16th century – The spelling sobriquet (Brantôme).[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A nickname, often a mocking one, based on a person's looks, character, origin or trade.[7][6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  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 f g h i j k 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
  7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
  9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF