vesce

Forms

vesce f (plural vesces)^[1] Old French vecce (1180) and vece, vesche in the 14th century.^[2][3][4] The spelling vesse was also used in the classical period, from 1530.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vicia (“vetch”), also written viscia.^[6][7][5][8] Rey notes that the Latin plant name has no counterpart in the other Indo-European languages.^[5]

Cognate with Italian veccia, Old Occitan vesa and Catalan vessa, from which Spanish veza was borrowed.^[9][8] German Wicke and Dutch wikke are borrowings from the Latin word, and English vetch came from the Anglo-Norman form veche.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first records, in the second half of the 12th century, use it as a byword for something of no value: valoir une vesce “to be worth a vetch”, and, in Alexandre de Paris's Roman d'Alexandre (1180–90), vaillant un grain de vece “worth one vetch seed”.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

The word kept the Latin sense of the climbing plant.^[5] In the 13th century Beaumanoir writes of cutting green vetch as fodder for animals or for sale,^[4][3] and the distinction between wild vetch and cultivated vetch, grown as green fodder or for its seed, is still the main one.^[5][11] By extension the word also names the seed itself or the fodder made from the plant.^[11][6]

Timeline

• 1150–1200 – Valoir une vesce “to be worth nothing” appears in a sermon.^[6]
• 1180–90 – Alexandre de Paris writes un grain de vece.^[6][4]
• c. 1283 – Beaumanoir uses the spelling vesce.^[2][3]
• 1530 – The spelling vesse is recorded.^[5]
• mid-14th century – The English word vetch is first recorded, from the Anglo-Norman form.^[10]
• 1543 – The derivative vesceron “wild vetch” appears.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) Vetch, a climbing plant of the pea family with pinnate leaves and tendrils, some kinds of which are grown for fodder.^[11][6] Vesce sauvage is wild vetch, vesce cultivée the cultivated kind.^[11][6][5]
2. By extension, the seed of the plant, or the green fodder made from it: Le fermier donnait de la vesce à ses pigeons.^[11][4]

Word family

• vesceron

Related words

• Latin vicia

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g 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
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 413a
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert