zèbre

Forms

zèbre m (plural zèbres, feminine zébresse)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Portuguese zebra, which in the 16th century already named the African animal and earlier a wild ass of the Iberian Peninsula (from 1145, in a document from Coimbra).^[2][3][4] Bloch and Wartburg give Spanish cebra beside the Portuguese word.^[5] The Portuguese, according to the TLFi, gave the name of a wild ass that was common in the Peninsula until the 16th century to the animal they found in Africa.^[2][5]

The further origin is debated.^[3][4] The TLFi and Bloch and Wartburg trace the Iberian word, probably, to Vulgar Latin *eciferus, from Latin equiferus (“wild horse”), a compound of equus (“horse”) and ferus (“wild”);^[2][5] the GLLF gives this as a possibility.^[6] Rey notes that English-speaking etymologists suppose a Congolese origin, while Romanists see a transfer of the name of the European onager;^[3] Littré had called it an Ethiopian word, citing Ludolf on its use in Congo.^[7] The Grand Robert calls the Portuguese word of uncertain origin and the Petit Robert of unknown origin.^[4][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1610, masculine, in Pierre du Jarric's history of the Portuguese discoveries, about the zebra of Congo; the same text has aller plus vite que le zèbre “to go faster than the zebra”.^[2][6][3]

Semantic evolution

The word has been used in the feminine too (1627, Louvencourt).^[2] Its figurative uses rest on the animal's speed and its striped coat: aller plus vite que le zèbre gave way to courir comme un zèbre at the end of the 19th century,^[3][6] and the name was given to striped fish and to a shell in 1872.^[3][7]

In army slang of 1888 it was a jocular word for a horse, also at Saint-Cyr and the École polytechnique.^[2][6] From 1889 it meant an odd fellow, a fashionable sense around 1900 that is still alive;^[3][2] Rey suggests the rare initial ⟨z⟩, as in zig and zozo, may have helped.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1610 – Du Jarric uses zebre of the African animal.^[2][3]
• 1627 – Louvencourt uses the word as a feminine.^[2]
• 1807 – The adjective zébré appears.^[3]
• 1821 – The verb zébrer appears.^[3]
• 1845 – zébrure is recorded.^[3][5]
• 1872 – It is used of striped fish and shells.^[3][6]
• 1888 – Army slang uses it for a horse.^[2]
• 1889 – Bourget uses it for a fellow, an individual.^[2][3]
• 1904 – Larousse records courir comme un zèbre.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A zebra, a wild African animal of the horse family with a coat striped with black or brown bands.^[8][1]
2. Courir comme un zèbre, filer comme un zèbre: to run very fast.^[8][2]
3. (familiar) An odd fellow, a guy: un drôle de zèbre.^[8][1]
4. (military slang) A horse.^[2][6]
5. A name of certain striped fish and shells.^[7][6]

Word family

• zébrâne
• zébrer
• zébrule
• zébrure
• zébré

Related words

• Portuguese zebra
• Latin equiferus

References

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