vive

Forms

vive f (plural vives)^[1] Old French vivre (about 1280), guivre (13th century) and wivre (early 14th century); vive from about 1393.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The fish name is inherited from Old French vivre (“weever”), inherited from Latin vīpera (“viper”), the source also of guivre and vouivre.^[2][4][5][6] The fish was named after the viper because of the venomous spines on its fins; for the same reason it was also called “sea dragon”.^[3][4][5][7] The TLFi, Rey and Bloch and Wartburg call the word an alteration of the Old French form.^[2][3][5] Littré notes that the word looks as if it came from vif, as Ambroise Paré thought, but that the older form shows otherwise.^[8] Pierre Guiraud instead compared the word with vielle, the name of a similar fish, and traced it to Latin vīvus (“alive”) in the sense “sharp-boned”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1280 the Bataille de Caresme et de Charnage names the fish vivre; the form vive appears in the Ménagier de Paris (about 1393), which warns of the places dangerous to touch: the spines on the back near the head and the gills.^[2][8]

Timeline

• c. 1280 – Vivre names the fish in the Bataille de Caresme et de Charnage.^[2]
• early 14th century – Spelled wivre.^[2]
• c. 1393 – Vive in the Ménagier de Paris.^[2][8]
• 16th century – Paré explains the name by the fish's liveliness out of water.^[8]
• 1694 – The Académie records the word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (ichthyology) A weever, a sea fish of sandy coasts whose dorsal fin and gill covers bear venomous spines; its flesh is prized.^[9][10][2]

Related words

• guivre
• vouivre
• vipère
• Latin vīpera

Usage notes

Vive is also the feminine of the adjective vif and the interjection vive …! (Vive le roi !), the present subjunctive of vivre; the dictionaries treat these as separate words.^{[2][9][4][10]}

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 487b
7. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
8. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)