yaourt

Forms

yaourt m (plural yaourts)^[1] Also spelled yogourt and yoghourt.^[2][3][4] Older spellings include yocourt (1657), youghourd (1673) and yaourth (1853), now given up.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Turkish yoğurt.^[2][3][1] The Turkish variant yoourt explains the French form, which the TLFi thinks was adapted through English.^[2] The Turkish word comes from yoğurmak (“to knead”).^[6][3]

Le Grand Robert and Rey see a Bulgarian intermediary between Turkish and French,^[6][5] and Bloch and Wartburg derive the word from Bulgarian too.^[7] French yogourt and German Joghurt are of the same origin;^[5] English yogurt goes back to Ottoman Turkish as well.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears as yogourt in Bertrandon de la Broquière's Voyage d'Outre-Mer (written 1455–1457, about a journey of 1432), naming the curdled milk eaten in the East.^[2][5] The spelling yaourt is first found in 1798–1799, in C. Lefebvre's translation of W. Eton's survey of the Ottoman Empire.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Until the end of the 19th century it was a rare, exotic travellers' word.^[5][6] The food spread from the beginning of the 20th century, when it entered the eating habits and the trade of French-speaking countries;^[5] Bloch and Wartburg date the word to about 1910 and say that Metchnikoff introduced the yaourt into France.^[7] After 1945 came the industrial versions, with phrases such as yaourt aux fruits and yaourt nature.^[5]

Yaourt is the usual form in France, while yogourt or yoghourt is preferred in Switzerland, Belgium and Quebec.^[5][3] In familiar French chanter en yaourt is to sing made-up sounds in place of the real lyrics.^[1]

Timeline

• 1455–1457 – Yogourt appears in Bertrandon de la Broquière's travel account.^[2]
• 1657 – The spelling yocourt is recorded.^[5][6]
• 1673 – The spelling youghourd is recorded.^[5][6]
• 1798–1799 – Yaourt appears in a translation from English.^[2][3]
• 1853 – Théophile Gautier writes yaourth.^[9][5]
• c. 1910 – The food is introduced into France.^[7]
• 1923 – The Larousse records yaourt.^[9]
• 1950 – First record of the derivative yaourtière.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Yogurt, milk curdled and fermented by lactic ferments, not drained.^[3][10][4]
2. (familiar) Chanter en yaourt: to sing with invented, meaningless words in place of the lyrics.^[1]
3. (familiar) Pot de yaourt: a small car.^[4]

Word family

• yaourtière

Related words

• yogourt

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)