vérin

Forms

vérin m (plural vérins)^[1] Middle French verin and verrin; the modern form is recorded from the 16th century.^[2][3][4] Littré also lists verrain.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin veruina (“long javelin”), with a change of gender to the masculine.^[2][6] The Latin feminine noun is derived from veru (“spit, dart, small pike”).^[2][6][4][7] Bloch and Wartburg note that the word seems to come from Picardy, where it still names an iron or wooden screw.^[8][4] Littré, more cautious, called the origin uncertain and cited Diez's derivation from the same Latin word.^[5]

The same Latin noun gave Occitan veruna “gimlet” and Italian verrina “boring machine”, whose ⟨rr⟩ is probably owed to Latin verres (“boar”) through a sexual image.^[2][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a Douai document of 1389 un verin à presser is a large wooden screw for a wine press.^[2]

Semantic evolution

From the wooden screw the word passed by metonymy to a lifting device made of a double screw or two screws, first as verrin in 1463.^[2][4] It also named a part of the firing mechanism of an arquebus (about 1600) and a frame for degreasing twisted wool (1771), senses that have died out.^[4] The lifting sense is still very much alive in engineering, now mostly for hydraulic and pneumatic jacks.^[4][9]

Timeline

• 1389 – A wooden press screw is called verin at Douai.^[2]
• 1463 – Verrin names a lifting device in Tournai accounts.^[2][6]
• 1561 – The modern form appears.^[4]
• c. 1600 – Verrin is used for a part of an arquebus.^[4]
• 1771 – It names a frame used to degrease wool.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (engineering) A jack or lifting device made of two screws or a double screw turned by a nut, used to raise heavy loads a short distance.^[2][9][5]
2. A hydraulic, pneumatic or electric cylinder or actuator: vérin hydraulique.^[9][6][1]

Related words

• verrou
• Latin veru

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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. ^ 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 328b
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert