tourte

Forms

tourte f (plural tourtes)^[1] Old French torte.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French torte, inherited from Late Latin torta (“round loaf”), found in the Vulgate in the phrase torta panis,^[2][4][5][6] usually explained as the noun use of the feminine of Latin tortus (“twisted”), past participle of torqueō (“to twist”).^[2][5][7] The closed vowel of the French word is a difficulty;^[8] Bloch and Wartburg, noting that the Latin vowel was short, explain it by a tendency to close an open /o/ before /r/ and another consonant, as in tourner.^[6] Meyer-Lübke instead holds the derivation from the participle to be phonetically impossible, as every Romance form requires a closed vowel.^[9]

Cognate with Italian torta and Spanish torta.^[6][5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as torte about 1200 in Aliscans, meaning a round loaf of bread.^[2][10]

Semantic evolution

Tourte came into French with the Latin sense of a round loaf, which survives in some regions.^[5][6] Its later uses show a give and take with tarte.^[5] It moved from the baker's to the pastry cook's trade: about 1393 the Ménagier de Paris uses it for a round pie of meat or fish, while from 1680 it also named a covered tart filled with fruit or jam.^[2][5]

From its shape it was used for the clay plate under a glassmaker's crucible (1704) and in metalworking, while from 1723 it named a cake of pressed nuts or oilseeds fed to animals, in competition with its derivative tourteau.^[5][7] Like tarte, it has meant “idiot” in familiar speech since Huysmans (1879), and is used as an adjective from 1915.^[5][2]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Torte “round loaf” in Aliscans.^[2]
• c. 1393 – The Ménagier de Paris uses tourte for a round meat or fish pie.^[2][5]
• 1573 – The derivative tourtière appears.^[6]
• 1680 – Used of a covered fruit tart.^[5]
• 1704 – The Trévoux dictionary records the glassmaker's clay plate.^[7][5]
• 1723 – Savary des Bruslons records the oilcake sense.^[7][5]
• 1879 – Huysmans uses it for a stupid person.^[2][5]
• 1915 – First use as an adjective.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pie, a round pastry with a lid of pastry, filled with meat, fish or vegetables and served hot: une tourte aux champignons.^[10][2]
2. A covered sweet tart: une tourte aux poires.^[2][5]
3. (regional) A round loaf of bread.^[10][11]
4. (technical) A clay plate on which a crucible stands in a glassworks furnace.^[7][11]
5. (familiar) A stupid person.^[2][5]

Adjective

1. (familiar) Not very bright, dim-witted.^[10][2]

Word family

• tourteau
• tourtière

Related words

• tordre
• tarte
• Late Latin torta

Usage notes

In Quebec tourte also names the passenger pigeon (and in Louisiana a dove); this word goes back to Latin turtur “turtledove”,^[1] and Littré gives it as the same word as the old tourtre “turtledove”.^[11] Wiktionnaire notes that Littré was the first to record the form tourte in that sense.^[12]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 109b
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
12. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org