vendangeur

Forms

vendangeur m (plural vendangeurs, feminine vendangeuse)^[1] Old French vendengeur; the old feminine vendangeresse was replaced by vendangeuse from the early 16th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French vendengeur, inherited from Latin vindēmiātor (“grape harvester”),^[2][3][5][1] from vindēmiō (“to harvest grapes”),^[3][4] from vindēmia (“grape harvest”).^[6] In French it is felt as a derivative of vendange or vendanger.^[5][1]

Cognate with Italian vendemmiatore, Occitan vendemiador, Catalan veremador, Spanish vendimiador and Portuguese vindimador.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Beaumanoir uses vendengeur in his Coutumes de Beauvaisis (1283) for the workers harvesting a vineyard: s'on oste mes vendengeurs ou mes ouvriers d'une vigne (“if my grape pickers or my workmen are removed from a vineyard”).^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

The feminine was first vendangeresse (early 14th-century manuscript), still used by Juvénal des Ursins in 1418;^[2][7] vendangeuse is found in 1503 or 1508 and replaced it.^[2][3][9] As an adjective (1573) the word was used of the season of the grape harvest.^[5]

From 1876 vendangeuse also named plants that flower in autumn, at harvest time, such as the aster.^[5][9] With the mechanisation of vineyards it came to mean a grape-harvesting machine (1975).^[9][2]

Timeline

• 1283 – Vendengeur in the Coutumes de Beauvaisis.^[2][4]
• early 14th century – The feminine vandangeresse in a manuscript of fabliaux.^[2]
• 1503 – The feminine vendangeuse.^[2]
• 1573 – Used as an adjective.^[5]
• 1876 – Vendangeuse names autumn-flowering plants.^[5][9]
• 1975 – Vendangeuse names a grape-harvesting machine.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grape picker, a person who takes part in the grape harvest.^[9][2][6]
2. (feminine, viticulture) A grape-harvesting machine.^[2][9][6]
3. (feminine, botany) A name for various plants flowering in autumn, such as the aster or the wild colchique.^[9][6]

Related words

• vendange
• vendanger
• vendémiaire
• vin
• Latin vindēmiātor

Usage notes

Littré records soupe de vendangeur, a soup of white cabbage and brown bread, and les saints vendangeurs, the saints whose feasts fall in late April or early May, when the vines are in danger of frost.^[7]

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 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. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
7. ^ a b c d 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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert