Etymologically
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vin

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /vɛ̃/[1]

Forms

vin m (plural vins)[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vīnum (“wine; grape; drink made from other fruits”).[2][3][4][5][1] The Latin word is related to Ancient Greek οἶνος (oînos) and to Semitic forms in “*wayn-” such as Biblical Hebrew יַיִן (yayin); whether it is Indo-European or Semitic in origin cannot be settled.[3] Bloch and Wartburg call it a Mediterranean word, and the Petit Robert a non-Indo-European word, probably from the Near East.[6][7] Wiktionary instead traces it to Proto-Indo-European *wóyh₁nom.[1] The Latin word passed into Celtic and Germanic, as in German Wein and English wine.[3][7]

Cognate with Italian vino, Spanish vino, Portuguese vinho, Catalan vi, Occitan vin and Romanian vin.[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 10th century in the Passion of Clermont, meaning the fermented drink made from grapes.[2][4] The Chanson de Roland has lavez de piment e de vin “washed with spiced wine and with wine”.[8]

Semantic evolution

About 1210 it also meant a tip, a sense still alive in the 17th century and later lost; from 1389 it named a medicine made with wine.[3][2] Drink made from other fruit was vin de pommes (1317) or vin de palme (1690).[2] From the 14th to the 17th century the effects of drink were named after animals: vin de singe (1373) made one merry, vin de lion quarrelsome and vin de pourceau sleepy.[3]

Villon (1462) uses vin as the symbol of drunkenness, and phrases about drinking followed: être entre deux vins (1623), avoir le vin mauvais (1718).[2] Mettre de l'eau dans son vin meant first curbing one's aggressive ambitions (1443) and then calming one's anger (1464–70).[2] Kinds of wine were named from the 14th century (vin doux, vins nouveaux, vin pétillant 1660); later vin blanc, vin rouge gave the nouns un blanc, un rouge, and du bourgogne, du champagne replaced vin de Bourgogne.[3][2] Vin d'honneur and vin de messe are in Duez (1659).[2]

Timeline

  • late 10th century – First found, in the Passion of Clermont.[2]
  • c. 1210 – A tip.[3]
  • 1389 – A medicinal wine.[2]
  • 1443 – Mettre de l'eaue en son vin.[2]
  • 1462 – A symbol of drunkenness, Villon.[2]
  • 1623 – Être entre deux vins.[2]
  • 1659 – Vin d'honneur, vin de messe.[2]
  • 1697 – Le vin est tiré, il le faut boire, Regnard.[2]
  • 1798 – Vin de pays.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. wine, the drink made by fermenting grape juice: vin rouge, vin blanc, vin rosé, vin de table.[7][1]
  2. A fermented drink made from another fruit or plant: vin de palme.[2]
  3. Vin d'honneur: a reception at which wine is served in someone's honour.[9][2]
  4. Drink, drunkenness: être entre deux vins, to be tipsy, cuver son vin, avoir le vin gai, triste.[9][2]
  5. (pharmacy) A medicine with wine as its base.[2]

Word family

  • vinasse
  • vinée
  • viner
  • vinique
  • aviné
  • vinaigre
  • épine-vinette
  • pot-de-vin

Usage notes

Mettre de l'eau dans son vin “to moderate one's demands” and quand le vin est tiré, il faut le boire “once committed, one must go on” (Regnard 1697, Daudet 1869) are the commonest phrases.[2][9] The Petit Robert lists pot-de-vin, taste-vin and pèse-vin among the compounds.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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 r s t 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 478a
  6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse