toison

Forms

toison f (plural toisons)^[1] Old French tuison (about 1112), then toison (about 1160).^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman spellings include teison, tuisun, tuson and toyson.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tuison, inherited from Late Latin tōnsiō (“shearing”) (in the accusative, also without the /n/), which is from Latin tondeō (“to shear, to shave”).^{[6][7][3][1][8]} In the Vulgate the Latin word meant “shearing” and “mowing”;^[2] the abstract sense “shearing” gave way to the concrete “fleece”.^[7][9]

Cognate with Old Occitan toizon;^[7] Italian tosone and Spanish tusón were taken from Gallo-Romance.^[7][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as tuison in Benedeit's Voyage de saint Brendan at the beginning of the 12th century, meaning the woolly coat of a sheep.^[6][3][2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the sheep's coat, the word named the fleece shorn from it (end of the 13th century).^[3] The mythological Golden Fleece of the Argonauts appears about 1140 in Geffrei Gaimar, and la toison d'or about 1265 in Brunetto Latini;^[6][2] the phrase was taken up for the order of chivalry founded in 1429 by Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, whose badge was a golden ram (recorded about 1450), and for the badge itself (1434).^[2][6]

By analogy it was used of an animal's coat (Rutebeuf, 1271–1278: toison a chien), of pubic hair (before 1425) and of hair in general, and since 1867 of a thick head of hair.^[6][2]

Timeline

• c. 1112 – Tuison in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[2][3]
• c. 1140 – The mythological fleece in Geffrei Gaimar.^[6][2]
• c. 1160 – The form toison, in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[3][4]
• c. 1265 – La toison d'or in Brunetto Latini's Trésor.^[6]
• 1271–1278 – Rutebeuf uses it of a dog's coat.^[6]
• 1429 – The order of the Golden Fleece is founded.^[2]
• c. 1450 – La Toison d'or names the order, in Monstrelet.^[6][2]
• Before 1425 – Eustache Deschamps uses it for pubic hair.^[2][6]
• 1584 – Du Bartas has toisonné “fleeced”.^[6][2]
• 1867 – A thick head of hair.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The woolly coat of a sheep, a fleece; also the fleece shorn off: une toison épaisse.^[10][6][1]
2. La Toison d'or: the Golden Fleece sought by Jason and the Argonauts; also the order of chivalry founded in 1429 and its collar.^[10][6]
3. A thick mop of hair.^[10][1]
4. The thick coat of an animal;^[6][1][9] (familiar) thick body hair, pubic hair.^[6][1][9]

Word family

• toisonner

Related words

• tondre
• tonte
• Latin tondeō

Usage notes

Littré quotes Rutebeuf's lines Avoir à clers, toison à chien, Ne pueent pas venir à bien “wealth in clerks' hands and a dog's fleece can come to no good”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 30b
9. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert