vivier

Forms

vivier m (plural viviers)^[1] Old French viver (about 1138), then vivier with a change of suffix (about 1150).^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also had vivere, vivir and viviere.^[4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin vīvārium (“game park, fishpond”).^[5][6][1][7] The Latin noun is derived from vīvus (“living”) and named places where wild animals were kept alive: a game park, a warren, an oyster bed or a fishpond.^[5][6][2]

Cognate with Italian vivaio and Walloon vivi.^[6][8] The Latin word was borrowed again as vivarium in 1894, probably after aquarium.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi first records it about 1140 in Geffrei Gaimar's Estoire des Engleis, for a pond in which fish are kept;^[5] the GLLF dates the word to the Roman d'Eneas (about 1130) and the form viver to Gaimar.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word kept one of the senses of the Latin, a pond for keeping and fattening fish.^[2][5] By extension it named a tank in which fish are kept alive on a boat (1398, an isolated record, then again in the 18th century),^[5][2] and then the fishing boat with such a tank (1736).^[5][2] Fishermen also used it for a basket sunk in the water to keep the catch alive (1769 or 1771).^[2][5][3]

Littré recorded a Norman sense, a spring-fed pond full of fish.^[8][2] A figurative use appears in 1743,^[5] and in the 20th century the word came to mean a setting that favours the growth of ideas or people, as in un vivier de talents.^[2][9]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Geffrei Gaimar uses it for a fishpond.^[5]
• 1398 – It names a vessel for keeping fish alive.^[5]
• 1736 – Aubin records it for a fishing boat with a water tank.^[5][3]
• 1743 – First figurative use.^[5]
• 1771 – Duhamel du Monceau describes the fishermen's basket.^[5]
• 1872 – Littré records the Norman sense.^[2][3]
• 1894 – Vivarium is borrowed from the same Latin word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fishpond or tank of constantly renewed water, for keeping, fattening or breeding fish or crustaceans.^[9][5]
2. A tank on a fishing boat in which the catch is kept alive.^[9][5]
3. (figurative) A setting that favours the growth of ideas or people, a breeding ground: un vivier de talents.^[9][1]

Related words

• vif
• vivarium
• Latin vīvārium

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 574a
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert