Etymologically
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toit

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Pronunciation

Forms

toit m (plural toits)[1] Old French teit (about 1155); toit from 1188, tect in the 16th century.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French teit, inherited from Latin tēctum (“roof; shelter, house”), the neuter past participle of tegō (“to cover, protect”) used as a noun.[2][3][4][5][1] The Latin verb belongs to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“to cover”), also seen in toga, tēgula (“tile”) and Ancient Greek στέγω (stégō, “to cover”).[3][6] It did not pass into French itself, but its compounds did (see protéger).[3]

Cognate with Italian tetto, Occitan tech, Spanish techo and Portuguese teto.[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace (about 1160–1174) uses teit for a cowshed or stable; a porc en toit is a pig in its sty in the early 14th century.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Chrétien de Troyes (1175) has it for the covering of a building, now its main sense.[2][3] The idea of shelter gave “dwelling, home” (l'uis de son toit, 1180), whence sous le même toit (1690) and sans toit “homeless” (1840).[2] Prêcher sur les toits (Marguerite de Navarre, before 1549), later crier sur les toits (1772, Voltaire), comes from biblical language.[2][3][8]

By likeness it is the roof of a gallery in real tennis (1680), the rock above a vein in a mine (1765), the top of a vehicle (1843, toit ouvrant, 1931), and in mountaineering an overhang (1954); le toit du monde is first a figure for altitude (1887).[2][3][9] Bloch and Wartburg note that in many Gallo-Romance dialects the word competes with couvert and couverture, and in the south with derivatives of tuile.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 1160–1174 – Teit “stable”, Wace.[2]
  • 1175 – Roof of a building, Chrétien de Troyes.[2]
  • 1180 – “Home”.[2]
  • Before 1549 – Prêcher sur les toits, Marguerite de Navarre.[8]
  • 1594 – The derivative toiture.[4]
  • 1772 – Crier sur les toits, Voltaire.[2]
  • 1843 – The roof of a carriage, Gautier.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A roof: un toit de tuiles, d'ardoises, un toit en pente.[6][1]
  2. Sous les toits: in an attic room at the top of a house.[2][6]
  3. A home, house: vivre sous le même toit, être sans toit.[2][6]
  4. The top or upper covering of something: le toit d'une voiture, toit ouvrant, le toit du monde, the highest region (the Himalayas, Tibet).[3][6]
  5. (mountaineering) An overhang.[9][3]
  6. Crier quelque chose sur les toits: to shout from the rooftops.[2][6]

Word family

  • toiture
  • avant-toit

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 150a
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF