canapé

Forms

canapé m (plural canapés)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from French canapé.^[2][1][3] The French word, recorded from 1648 for a long seat with a back for several people, is an altered form of the older Old French conopé (“bed curtain”) (about 1180).^[2][4] It comes from Late Latin canapeum, the Late Latin form of Latin cōnōpēum (“mosquito net”), which also came to mean a bed surrounded by such a net.^[2][4] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek κωνωπεῖον (kōnōpeîon, “mosquito net”), from κώνωψ (kṓnōps, “mosquito”).^[2][5] The origin of the Greek word for the mosquito is disputed, and the DHLF mentions a possible loan from an Egyptian word for “fly”.^[4]

The same French word is Spanish canapé, first recorded in the Spanish Academy's dictionary of 1729 as a recent loan.^[5][6] Nascentes notes that the REW derives the Portuguese, Spanish and French words from Italian, that Brachet too derived the French word from Italian, and that the origin wavers between France and Italy.^[7] The English word canopy goes back to the same Latin word.^[8][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first recorded in Morais's dictionary of 1789, which describes a long chair with arms and a padded back, sometimes of straw, on which a person could lie back.^[2][9] A private letter of 1823 in the Post Scriptum corpus spells it camape.^[10]

Semantic evolution

Morais's edition of 1813 explains the name by a curtain that some canapés had hanging from a frame, closed round the seat.^[11] Vieira (1871–1874) describes a large seat with a back for several people that can also serve as a bed, and records the proverbial canapé de Bocage, said of an old, worn canapé after a well-known quatrain by Bocage.^[12]

The food sense followed French, where it is recorded from 1787: a small slice of bread with a savoury topping, served as an appetiser.^[2] Houaiss dates it in Portuguese to 1975.^[2] For this sense Brazil also has the spelling and pronunciation canapê.^[13][14]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – French has conopé “bed curtain”.^[4]
• 1648 – French canapé for a long seat with a back.^[2][4]
• 1729 – Spanish canapé enters the Academy's dictionary as a new loan from French.^[5]
• 1789 – Morais's dictionary lists canapé, the first Portuguese record.^[2][9]
• 1823 – a private letter has the spelling camape.^[10]
• 1871–1874 – Vieira records the proverbial canapé de Bocage.^[12]
• 1975 – first record of the sense “appetiser on a slice of bread”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A kind of sofa with a back and arms, usually with a wooden frame, for one to three people; a settee.^[2][3][1]
2. (cooking) A canapé: a small slice of bread or toast with a savoury topping such as ham, cheese or pâté, served as an appetiser.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• sofá
• French canapé

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Houaiss, Antônio; Villar, Mauro de Salles (2001), Dicionário Houaiss da língua portuguesa, Rio de Janeiro: Objetiva, p. s.v. canapé
3. ^ a b c Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, revised online edition (2023–) of the Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa Contemporânea (2001), https://dicionario.acad-ciencias.pt, p. s.v. canapé
4. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert, p. s.v. canapé
5. ^ a b c Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 1, 795
6. ^ Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. canapé
7. ^ Nascentes, Antenor (1955), Dicionário etimológico da língua portuguesa, vol. 1: Nomes comuns, Rio de Janeiro (1st ed. 1932, preface by W. Meyer-Lübke), p. s.v. canapé
8. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre, p. s.v. canapeum
9. ^ a b Silva, António de Morais (1789), Diccionario da lingua portugueza composto pelo padre D. Rafael Bluteau, reformado, e accrescentado, 2 vols., Lisboa: Simão Thaddeo Ferreira, p. 1, 223
10. ^ a b CLUL (ed.) (2014), P.S. Post Scriptum: Arquivo Digital de Escrita Quotidiana em Portugal e Espanha na Época Moderna, Lisboa: Centro de Linguística da Universidade de Lisboa, http://ps.clul.ul.pt, p. s.v. canapé
11. ^ Silva, António de Morais (1813), Diccionario da lingua portugueza, 2nd ed., 2 vols., Lisboa: Typographia Lacerdina, p. 1, 334
12. ^ a b Vieira, Frei Domingos (1871–1874), Grande Diccionario Portuguez ou Thesouro da lingua portugueza, 5 vols., Porto: Ernesto Chardron e Bartholomeu H. de Moraes, p. 2, 74
13. ^ Ferreira, Aurélio Buarque de Holanda, Novo dicionário Aurélio da língua portuguesa, digital edition, p. s.v. canapé
14. ^ Michaelis: Moderno Dicionário da Língua Portuguesa, São Paulo: Melhoramentos (online as Michaelis Dicionário Brasileiro da Língua Portuguesa, https://michaelis.uol.com.br), p. s.v. canapé