Etymologically
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viande

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 14:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vjɑ̃d/[1]

Forms

viande f (plural viandes)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French viande, inherited from Late Latin vivanda (“provisions, food”), recorded in a capitulary of Charlemagne (803), with the inner /v/ lost by dissimilation.[2][3][4][5] The Late Latin word is an alteration, by a change of suffix, of popular Latin *vīvenda (“things needed to live”), the neuter plural used as a noun of the gerundive of vīvō (“to live”) (see vivre).[2][3][6]

Compare Italian vivanda and Spanish vianda, which keep the old sense “food”, and English viand.[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050) it means any food that keeps one alive, the only sense of the word in Old French.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The general sense “food” was dominant until the classical period: Madame de Sévigné lists a stew, a cucumber salad and walnuts among autres sortes de viandes.[3][7] Viandes de quaresme (Rabelais, 1564) were Lenten foods such as salt fish and dried fruit, and viande creuse (1646) was food with little substance, figuratively vain hopes.[2][3]

The narrower sense “flesh of animals eaten as food” appears in Philippe de Mézières (about 1389, grosses viandes) and became the usual one in the 17th century, replacing chair in this use.[2][3][4] The Académie distinguished viande blanche and viande noire in 1718.[2] In familiar French viande has meant the human body, as in montrer sa viande (1690, 1808), and soldiers' slang has sac à viande for a shirt (1888) and a sleeping bag (1908).[2][8]

Timeline

  • c. 1050 – “Food”, in the Vie de saint Alexis.[2]
  • c. 1389 – Grosses viandes, meat, in Philippe de Mézières.[2]
  • 1564 – Viandes de quaresme, in Rabelais.[2]
  • 1646 – Viande creuse.[2]
  • 1690 – Menue viande, poultry and game, in Furetière.[2]
  • 1718 – Viande blanche, viande noire.[2]
  • 1888 – Sac à viande, a shirt.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Meat, the flesh of mammals and birds used as food: viande de bœuf, viande hachée, viande rouge, viande blanche.[7][9]
  2. (obsolete) Food in general, viande creuse, unsatisfying food, empty hopes.[7][9]
  3. (slang) The human body: montrer sa viande.[8][2]

Word family

  • viander
  • viandis
  • vivre
  • vivandier
  • English viand

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 m n o 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 575b
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)