vinaigre

Forms

vinaigre m (plural vinaigres)^[1] Middle French vyn egre (14th century).^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from French vin + aigre (“sour”).^[3][4][5][6] Because the first element lost its nasal vowel in the compound, the link with vin is no longer obvious.^[4][5] It replaced the Old French word for vinegar, aisil, which came from Latin acētum.^[7][4]

Cognate with Italian vinagro, Occitan vinagre, Catalan vinagre, Spanish vinagre and Portuguese vinagre, and with Walloon vinaik.^[8][2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1200 in the fabliaux of Jean Bodel, for the liquid produced by the acetic fermentation of wine.^[3][9]

Semantic evolution

From 1570 the word was extended to a liquid made from another alcoholic solution, which led to the phrase vinaigre de vin.^[4] Many qualified names followed: vinaigre rosat (1600), vinaigre de Saturne (1763), vinaigre de bois (1824) and vinaigre de toilette (1839), the last two now obsolete.^[3][4]

Figuratively, from the middle of the 17th century it meant a hurtful remark or behaviour, a sense now archaic,^[4][3] and slang crier au vinaigre (1660) meant to call for help.^[4] The sourness returns in tourner au vinaigre “to turn out badly” (1894).^[3][4] From 1808 it named the fast turning of a skipping rope, opposed to sauter à l'huile “slowly”, and faire vinaigre “to hurry” is recorded from 1916.^[4][3] The cry Au bon vinaigre!, given when carrying a child on one's back, recalls the vinegar sellers who carried a small cask on their backs.^[3][4]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Jean Bodel uses it in his fabliaux.^[3]
• c. 1350 – Vinaigre blanc appears in medical texts.^[3]
• 1536 – Roger de Collerye writes of clothes doublez de vinaigre, too thin for the cold.^[3][2]
• 1570 – It is used for a liquid made from other alcohols.^[4]
• 1600 – Olivier de Serres records vinaigre rosat.^[3]
• after 1661 – Retz uses it for hurtful words.^[3]
• 1808 – D'Hautel records the skipping-rope sense.^[3]
• 1894 – Ça tourne au vinaigre “things are going wrong” is recorded.^[3]
• 1916 – Barbusse uses faire vinaigre “to hurry”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Vinegar, the liquid made from wine or another alcoholic solution by acetic fermentation, used as a seasoning: vinaigre de vin, vinaigre balsamique.^[6][3]
2. Tourner au vinaigre: to turn out badly.^[3][4]
3. (familiar) A fast turning of the skipping rope;^[3][4] faire vinaigre: to hurry.^[3][4]
4. (dated) Vinaigre de toilette: a mixture of eau de cologne and vinegar.^[4][6]

Related words

• vin
• aigre
• Latin acētum

Usage notes

Habit de vinaigre was popular French for a coat too thin for the season.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse