venin

Forms

venin m (plural venins)^[1] Old French venim, used until the end of the 17th century, and velin (12th–16th centuries, surviving in some dialects); venin from about 1240.^[2][3][4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French venim, inherited from Vulgar Latin *venīmen, an alteration by change of suffix of Latin venēnum (“magic potion, drug, poison”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The present form (about 1240) itself replaced the older one by a change of suffix.^[4][3] Old French also had forms with /r/ and /l/, such as verin and velin, from two other sound developments.^[3]

In Latin the noun first meant a herb or substance used for healing or magic, a philtre, then “poison”, the sense that won out.^[2][3] Rey derives it from an older form meaning “love potion”, of the same Indo-European root as Venus.^[3]

Cognate with Italian veleno, Old Occitan veren and Catalan verí.^[4][2][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Cambridge Psalter (first half of the 12th century) venim is the venom of serpents under the lips of the wicked, a substance that poisons, literally and figuratively.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word covered both the poison of animals, especially snakes, and poison in general: Wace's puisun de venim (about 1155), a poisoned drink, and the man executed in 1381 for throwing venim into wells.^[2][3] Since anything that causes disease or rot could be called venin, it had a wider use than poison; the modern division, venin for the toxin of certain animals, became fixed in the 19th century.^[2] In medicine it also meant the pus of an ulcer (1314).^[2]

Figuratively it has meant “hidden hatred, malice” and “dangerous doctrine” since Old French (velin, about 1190).^[3][8] Sixteenth-century poets wrote of the doux venin of love.^[2] The phrase jeter, cracher son venin “to vent one's spite” dates from 1690, and the proverb morte la bête, mort le venin from La Fontaine (1685).^[3][8]

Timeline

• 1100–1150 – Venim in the Cambridge Psalter.^[2]
• c. 1155 – Wace uses it for a poison in a drink.^[2][8]
• c. 1190 – Velin for malice in the Sermons of St Bernard.^[8][3]
• c. 1240 – The form venin.^[3][5]
• 1314 – Henri de Mondeville uses it for the pus of an ulcer.^[2]
• 1685 – La Fontaine has morte la bête, mort le venin.^[3][8]
• 1690 – Jeter son venin is recorded;^[3][2] Furetière still writes venim.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. venom, a toxic substance secreted by certain animals and injected by a bite or sting: le venin du scorpion.^[9][2][7]
2. By analogy, a toxic substance in the hairs or spines of certain plants.^[9][2]
3. (figurative) malice, spite, hateful or dangerous talk: cracher son venin.^[9][3]

Word family

• venimeux
• envenimer
• antivenimeux

Related words

• vénéneux
• Vénus
• Latin venēnum

Usage notes

The proverb morte la bête, mort le venin “dead beast, dead venom” means that an enemy who is dead can do no more harm.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b 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 q 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 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
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 234b
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert