venaison

Forms

venaison f (plural venaisons)^[1] Old French veneison, veneisun, venoison;^[2][3][4][5] Anglo-Norman also venesoun and venison.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veneison, inherited from Latin vēnātiō (“hunting, game”), through its accusative.^[2][6][1][7] The present spelling is a remaking, about 1175, of the older one.^[2] The TLFi, however, treats the word as borrowed from Latin.^[3] The Latin noun is derived from vēnor (“to hunt”), whose Indo-European root Rey also finds in Avestan and Sanskrit verbs meaning “he conquers” and in Old High German winnan (“to struggle”), and perhaps in the name of Venus.^[2]

Cognate with Old Occitan venazon, Portuguese veação and Italian venagione.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1138–1140 in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, in a list of foods: Cerfs e chevrols e veneisuns (“stags and roe deer and venison”), meaning the flesh of large game.^[3][8][9]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense, the meat of large game such as deer and boar, is the only one still alive.^[2] In Old French it also had the Latin senses “hunting” (1180–1220) and, of antiquity, “hunt staged in the circus” (about 1213).^[2] In hunting language it named the fat of a stag or boar;^[2][3] Rey dates this to 1180–1220 and the TLFi to 1376, in the Livres du roi Modus, in the phrase avoir bonne veneson “to be fat”.^[2][3] By metonymy it named the season when deer are good to eat (1680), and in the 18th century grosse venaison (stag, boar) was set against basse venaison (hare, rabbit).^[2][5] In 1798 it named the smell of game and, figuratively, a strong human smell.^[2]

English venison (about 1300) comes from the Old French form venesoun.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 1138 – Veneisuns in Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis.^[3][8]
• c. 1175 – The spelling venaison.^[2][9]
• c. 1213 – Venoison of the staged hunts of the ancient circus.^[2]
• c. 1300 – English borrows it as venesoun.^[10]
• 1376 – Avoir bonne veneson “to be fat”, of game.^[3]
• 1680 – The season when deer are good to eat.^[2]
• 1765 – Basse venaison is set against grosse venaison.^[2]
• 1798 – The smell of game.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The meat of large game such as deer, roe deer or wild boar; venison: un civet de venaison.^[3][11][12]
2. (hunting) The fat of a stag or wild boar.^[11][9][5]

Related words

• vénerie
• veneur
• Latin vēnātiō

Usage notes

Littré gives basse venaison for hare and rabbit, and the saying toute chair n'est pas venaison.^[5]

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 p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 230b
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)