veau

Forms

veau m (plural veaux, feminine génisse)^[1] Old French vedel and veel (about 1120), veal (about 1300), viaul (late 14th century); veau from the late 12th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veel, inherited from Latin vitellus (“little calf”),^[3][2][1][4] a diminutive of vitulus (“calf”), which it replaced in most Romance languages.^[2][5][6] Rey takes the base noun, “young of the year”, from vetus (“of the previous year”), generally traced to Proto-Indo-European *wet- (“year”), also seen in Sanskrit वत्स (vatsá, “calf”).^[2] The French word vitellus is a learned doublet.^[1]

Cognate with Italian vitello, Old Occitan vedel and Catalan vedell.^[7][8][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as vedel in the Oxford Psalter (about 1120), meaning the young of a cow up to a year old.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the Latin sense and entered phrases naming the way the animal was raised, such as veau de lait (1640, earlier viaul de lait 1396).^[2][3] Veel d'or (about 1170), later veau d'or (1485), is the golden idol worshipped by the Hebrews;^[2][3] adorer le veau d'or “to worship money” is from 1694.^[2][3] Tuer le veau gras, from the parable of the prodigal son, is recorded in 1640.^[3]

Many figurative uses draw on the animal's supposed heaviness, clumsiness, laziness and stupidity: veau meant a fool from 1480.^[2][9] The word also names the meat (15th century) and the tanned skin (1537),^[9] and later a poor racehorse (1901) and a sluggish car (1917).^[9]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – Vedel in the Oxford Psalter.^[3]
• c. 1170 – Veel d'or, the golden calf.^[3]
• c. 1225 – Cras veel, the fatted calf, in Gautier de Coinci.^[3]
• 1396 – Viaul de lait.^[3][2]
• 1480 – Used for a fool.^[2]
• 1537 – Calfskin.^[9]
• 1640 – Faire tuer le veau gras (Oudin).^[3]
• 1694 – Adorer le veau d'or.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A calf, the young of a cow in its first year.^[9][3]
2. Veal: blanquette de veau.^[9][1]
3. Calfskin, tanned and dressed.^[9]
4. Le veau d'or: the golden calf, adorer le veau d'or, to worship money.^[9][2]
5. Tuer le veau gras: to hold a feast for a joyful family occasion.^[9][3]
6. (familiar) A lout, a lazy dolt, also pleurer comme un veau, to sob noisily.^[9][10]
7. Veau marin: a seal.^[9]
8. The young of a cetacean.^[9]

Word family

• vêler
• vélin

Related words

• velle
• vieux
• vitellus
• Latin vitulus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 544a
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF