soie

Forms

soie f (plural soies)^[1] Old French seide (late 11th century), seie (12th century), then soie (about 1175); Middle French soye.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French seie, inherited from Latin sēta, a variant of Classical Latin saeta (“bristle, coarse hair”).^{[4][5][2][6][3]} The Latin word meant the coarse hair of an animal, a mane, especially pig's or boar's bristles, and things made from them such as a brush or a fishing line; the sense of the textile must have arisen in Late Latin, competing with sēricum, the source of serge.^[2][6] Rey calls the origin of the Latin word unclear;^[2] Wiktionary derives it from Proto-Italic *saitā.^[1] Littré rejects any link with Ancient Greek σήρ (sḗr, “silkworm”).^[7]

Cognate with Italian seta, Occitan seda, Catalan seda, Spanish seda and Portuguese seda.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Already as seide in Rashi's glosses (late 11th century), the word is used about 1140 in the Voyage de Charlemagne for the silk thread spun by silkworms, and in the first half of the 12th century in Marbode's Lapidary for an ass's coarse hair (seie d'asne).^[9][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “long, coarse hair” was first used chiefly of the pig and then of other animals; as the silk sense prevailed, it became hard to use for rough hair except for the pig.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg explain by this sense the ironic dialect names for the pig of the type marquis de soie, from a time when silk clothing was for the nobility.^[6] Other uses of the hair sense are a pig disease (les soyes, 1564), a stiff hair in botany (1812) and a moss's capsule stalk (1803).^[4][2]

The silk sense, dominant today, covers the fibre and the fabric, with phrases such as soie crue (1534) and soie écrue (1690); soie artificielle (1889) for rayon was banned in 1934.^[2][4][10] It was extended to the thread of spiders (1710), soie de mer (1812) and papier de soie (1828).^[4][2] In slang, péter dans la soie (1878) means to live in luxury.^[4]

Timeline

• late 11th century – Seide in Rashi's glosses.^[9]
• c. 1140 – Silk thread in the Voyage de Charlemagne.^[4]
• first half of the 12th century – Seie d'asne, an ass's hair, in Marbode's Lapidary.^[4]
• c. 1175 – The form soie (Chrétien de Troyes).^[9][2]
• 1564 – Soyes names a disease of pigs (Thierry).^[4]
• 1710 – Réaumur speaks of the soye des araignées.^[4]
• 1828 – Papier de soie is recorded.^[4]
• 1889 – Soie artificielle (Chardonnet).^[4]
• 1934 – The name soie artificielle is banned.^[2][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. silk, the fibre spun by the ver à soie and the fabric woven from it.^[10][1]
2. Papier de soie: tissue paper.^[10][4]
3. A long, stiff hair of the pig or boar, a bristle.^[10][1]
4. (botany) The stalk bearing the capsule of a moss.^[10][4]

Word family

• soyeux
• soierie

Related words

• velours
• sétacé
• Latin saeta

Usage notes

A separate soie, the tang of a knife or sword blade on which the handle is fitted, is recorded from 1680; its 15th-century form saye meant the peg of a lid, and its origin is uncertain or unknown.^[3][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 h i j k l m n 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, 47b
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert