veneur

Forms

veneur m (plural veneurs)^[1] Old French venere (subject case), veneor, venor, venur and veneour; the modern form veneur is recorded from 1345.^[2][3][4] The Old French feminine veneresse (about 1165) has disappeared.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French veneor, inherited from Latin vēnātōrem (“hunter”), the accusative of the noun formed from vēnor (“to hunt”).^[5][6][2][7] The Old French subject form venere continued the Latin nominative, while the oblique form continued the accusative, as did Old Occitan venaire beside venador.^[8] Middle French also borrowed the Latin word as venateur (1485).^[2]

Cognate with Romanian vânător.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as li venere in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134), meaning a hunter.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the 16th century veneur went out of use as the general word for a hunter and survived only in special uses, notably the historical title of the king's grand veneur.^[6] It became the name of the officer in charge of hunting with hounds;^[2][3][5] grand veneur, the head of a hunting establishment, is recorded from 1474, and Furetière defined it in 1690 as the man who leads the hunt and the hounds.^[2][3][5] Bloch and Wartburg note that this aristocratic and technical specialization kept veneur and vénerie alive longer in French than their counterparts elsewhere, while the verb vener was lost before the 16th century except in a few technical uses.^[6]

A figurative veneur de “relentless pursuer of” is found about 1515 but went out of use.^[2] Today the word belongs to history and to hunting with hounds; in cooking, sauce grand veneur is a pepper sauce served with game.^[2][10]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – Li venere appears in Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire.^[5]
• c. 1140 – Geffrei Gaimar writes veneor in the Estoire des Engleis.^[5]
• c. 1165 – The feminine veneresse is recorded.^[2]
• 1345 – The modern form veneur is recorded.^[4][2]
• 1474 – Grand veneur is first recorded.^[3][10]
• 1482 – Grand veneur de France appears in the letters of Louis XI.^[5]
• 1485 – Middle French borrows the Latin word as venateur.^[2]
• c. 1515 – A figurative sense “relentless pursuer” is found.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière defines it as the man who leads the hunt and the hounds.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A huntsman who leads or takes part in a hunt with hounds.^[5][1]
2. (historical) An officer of a prince's vénerie in charge of hunting with hounds;^[10][3] grand veneur, the head of a hunting establishment.^[10][3]
3. (cooking) Sauce grand veneur: a pepper sauce with redcurrant jelly, served with venaison.^[10]

Related words

• venaison
• vénerie
• vener
• Latin vēnātor

Usage notes

Littré records the saying c'est le bon veneur qui fait la bonne meute “it is the good huntsman who makes the good pack”.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c 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, 231b
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert