vache
Pronunciation
- IPA: /vaʃ/[1]
Forms
vache f (plural vaches)[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Old French vache, inherited from Latin vacca (“cow”).[2][3][4][5][6][1] Rey compares Sanskrit वशा (vaśā́, “heifer calving for the first time”), and notes that the general Indo-European vocabulary used one word for the male and female of domestic animals; the Petit Robert calls the Latin word of unknown origin.[3][7][8]
Cognate with Romanian vacă, Italian vacca, Occitan vaca, Catalan vaca, Spanish vaca and Portuguese vaca; Picard vake is the Picard form.[7][9][8]
Earliest recorded meaning
Rey dates it to the end of the 9th century, the Grand Robert to the late 11th; the TLFi's first record is the Laws of William the Conqueror (about 1130), for the breeding female of cattle.[3][5][2]
Semantic evolution
Its physical traits and supposed behaviour gave many phrases: dormir comme une vache (1492), poil de vache “red-haired” (Rabelais, 1534), plancher des vaches “dry land” (Rabelais, 1548), vache à lait “person who is milked for money” (1551), manger de la vache enragée “to suffer hardship” (1610).[3][2] Parler français comme une vache espagnole (1640) is probably an alteration of comme un Basque espagnol, il pleut comme vache qui pisse and une vache n'y retrouverait pas son veau date from 1876.[3][2][10] Les sept vaches grasses et les sept vaches maigres recall Joseph's dream (Furetière, 1690).[2]
As an insult it meant a fat, ugly woman (1619), a woman of loose morals (1866) and, in slang, a policeman; as a familiar adjective, vache is “nasty, harsh”, whence vachement “terribly”.[2][1] The maladie de la vache folle is a calque of English mad cow disease (1980s).[3]
Timeline
- Late 9th century – First record according to Rey.[3]
- c. 1130 – Laws of William the Conqueror.[2]
- 1534 – Poil de vache, Rabelais.[2]
- 1548 – Plancher des vaches, Rabelais.[3]
- 1610 – Manger de la vache enragée.[2]
- 1640 – Parler français comme une vache espagnole.[2]
- 1833 – Aller comme un tablier à une vache.[2]
- 1876 – Il pleut comme vache qui pisse.[2]
Meanings
Noun
- A cow: vache laitière, dairy cow, la maladie de la vache folle, mad cow disease.[7][1][3]
- Cowhide: souliers de vache.[8][10]
- Vache à lait: a milch cow, a person exploited for money, manger de la vache enragée, to have a hard time, le plancher des vaches, dry land.[3][2]
- (familiar, insulting) A nasty person, (old, vulgar) a woman of loose morals.[2]
Adjective
Word family
- vacher
- vacherie
- vachette
- vacherin
- vachement
- avachir
Related words
- vaccin
- vaccine
- Latin vacca
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 97a
- ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
- ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
- ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse