venimeux

Forms

venimeux (feminine venimeuse, masculine plural venimeux, feminine plural venimeuses)^[1] Old French venimus and venimos.^[2][3][4] Dialect forms include Walloon vilmeu and Norman velimeux.^[5]

Etymology

It is formed from French venin + -eux, on the old form venim of the noun, which was in use until the 17th century.^[2][6][3][7] The noun goes back to Vulgar Latin *venīmen, a remodelling of Latin venēnum (“poison”).^[6][1] Wiktionary calls it in effect a doublet of vénéneux, which was borrowed from Latin.^[1]

Cognate with Old Occitan verenos and Italian velenoso.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the first half of the 12th century the Oxford Psalter has the noun venimus, translating Latin veneficus, for a charmer or poisoner, an isolated use.^[2][4] As an adjective, “having venom”, of animals, it is first recorded about 1175 in Benoît's Ducs de Normandie.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In medicine it described what causes infection (13th century) and what contains pus (1314).^[2][4] It also meant “rotten”, of wood (1534), and until Voltaire's time it could mean “poisonous” of plants, the sense now kept for vénéneux.^[2][6][4]

The figurative sense, full of hidden hatred and malice, is as old as the 13th century, as with venin;^[4][9] langue venimeuse “slanderer” is recorded in 1694, reviving the image of the serpent.^[4][9] The noun venimosité was formed from it by the end of the 13th century.^[2]

Timeline

• First half of the 12th century – The noun venimus “charmer, poisoner” appears in the Oxford Psalter.^[2]
• c. 1175 – Used of venomous animals in the Ducs de Normandie.^[2]
• 13th century – The form venimeux and the figurative sense “malicious”.^[3][4]
• 1314 – Used in Henri de Mondeville's Chirurgie of what causes infection.^[2][5]
• 1534 – Used of rotten wood.^[2][4]
• 1580 – Robert Garnier speaks of herbes venimeuses.^[2]
• 1694 – Langue venimeuse “slanderer” is recorded.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of an animal: venomous, producing venom that it can inject by a bite or sting: un scorpion venimeux.^[2][9]
2. Containing venom; of a plant, having stinging parts.^[8][9]
3. (classical) poisonous, of plants; now vénéneux.^[8][6]
4. (figurative) Full of hatred and malice: une critique venimeuse, langue venimeuse “slanderer”.^[9][4]

Word family

• venimosité

Related words

• venin
• envenimer
• vénéneux
• Latin venēnum

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d 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, 235b
8. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert