pesche

Forms

pesche f (oblique plural pesches)^[1]

• persche, peche, peiche, pesce, peyche^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pessica, from Late Latin persica (“peach”).^[1] The Late Latin noun was the neuter plural of persicum, taken as a feminine singular, and that word was shortened from mālum persicum (“Persian apple”), the fruit being named after the land it came from.^[4][5][6] The form with ⟨ss⟩ is recorded in the Appendix Probi.^[7][6] The Latin adjective is from Ancient Greek Περσικός (Persikós).^[1]

The REW lists the Romance cognates Italian pesca, Spanish prisco and Old Occitan persega.^[7] The DÉRom reconstructs a Proto-Romance noun with /rs/ and takes the assimilated /ss/ type, which French continues, for an old low-register variant already present in common Proto-Romance.^[8] Gamillscheg notes that the form with ⟨ss⟩ is already in the Latin glossaries.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest trace is persche, a French gloss for peach in Rashi's commentary on the Talmud, at the end of the 11th century, written in Hebrew letters.^[3][10][11] The TLFi gives it with a question mark and the DHLF calls the spelling doubtful; both date pesches in the Vie de saint Gilles, about 1180, as the first sure record.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Besides the fruit, the word named the tree, the stone and an oil pressed from the stones and used to whiten the skin.^[2] The tree also had its own name, peschier, recorded since the 12th century, as in Si s'asient suz un pescher “and they sit down under a peach tree” in Partonopeus de Blois.^[9][12] The modern word pêche later took the senses of a pale pink colour and of a soft complexion, and several slang ones.^[6]

Timeline

• end of the 11th century – persche in Rashi's glosses.^[3][11]
• c. 1180 – pesches in the Vie de saint Gilles.^[6][4]
• 1166–1200 – the earliest Anglo-Norman record the AND cites.^[2]
• 1175–1200 – pescher “peach tree” in Partonopeus de Blois.^[12]
• 1903 – pêches Melba.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. peach, the fruit.^[1][2]
2. the peach tree.^[2]
3. a peach stone; in oile de pesche, an oil made from ground peach stones.^[2]

Anglo-Norman

The AND first cites the word from the last third of the 12th century, with the spellings peche, peese, peiche, pesce and peyche.^[2] Middle English peche came from Old French pesche as well as Medieval Latin pesca,^[13] and Etymonline cites it as a surname from the late 12th century and as a fruit name from about 1400, with the Old Northern French form peske.^[14] Bloch and Wartburg note that English peach comes from French.^[5]

Descendants

• Champenois prêche^[1]
• Middle French pesche (→ French pêche)^[1]
• Norman pêche^[1]
• Middle English peche (borrowed; → English peach)^[1][13]
• Irish péitseog (borrowed)^[1]
• Manx peitshag (borrowed)^[1]

Usage notes

The word is headed pesche2 in Tobler–Lommatzsch, pesche 1 in the AND and pesche in the DEAF, and the FEW puts it under Latin persicum.^[15][2][10] The spelling pesche also stands for the noun meaning fishing, which Greimas records from the middle of the 13th century beside the verb peschier “to fish”.^[16][15]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. pesche
3. ^ a b c Katan, Moshe (1988), Otzar La'azei Rashi: the Old French glosses of Rashi, Jerusalem; digital edition Sefaria, p. s.v. persche
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. pêche
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France, p. 511
6. ^ a b c d e f 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
7. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 6427
8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
9. ^ a b Gamillscheg, Ernst (1966–1969), Etymologisches Wörterbuch der französischen Sprache, 2nd, fully revised ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. 729
10. ^ a b Baldinger, Kurt; Möhren, Frankwalt; Städtler, Thomas, eds. (1971–2021), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF), Heidelberg: Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften; DEAFél / DEAFpré, deaf-server.adw.uni-heidelberg.de, p. s.v. pesche
11. ^ a b Möhren, Frankwalt, Dictionnaire étymologique de l'ancien français (DEAF): Complément bibliographique, electronic version (DEAFBiblEl), Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften, alma.hadw-bw.de/deafbibl (texts by siglum, with their dates), p. RaschiD2
12. ^ a b Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
13. ^ a b Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
14. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
15. ^ a b Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:820
16. ^ Greimas, Algirdas Julien (1979), Dictionnaire de l'ancien français jusqu'au milieu du XIVe siècle, 2nd ed., Paris: Larousse (printing of 1988), p. s.v. pesche