sobriquet French · revision 15634

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=1355, le soubriquet}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /sɔ.bʁi.kɛ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sobriquet''' ''m'' (plural sobriquets)^(Wiktionary)

+ Middle French ''soubzbriquet'' (14th century), ''soubriquet'', ''soubricquet'' (15th century); ''sobriquet'' from the late 16th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Académie 9) Its earliest sense, “a chuck under the chin”, suggests a development from a blow to a mocking gesture, a mocking word and finally a nickname;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Bloch and Wartburg compare [[oc|escaissar]], which went from “to break the jaw, tear” to “to mock, give nicknames”, with the noun [[m|oc|escais|t=nickname]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ Guiraud explained it as [[sous]] “under” and [[briquet]] “striking steel”: a gesture of rubbing the finger under the chin as if striking a light.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) The TLFi also rejects derivations from [[la|beccus|t=beak]] and [[dum|bricke]], and thinks the two parts may be no more than a reshaping of some unknown base.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In a document of 1355 a man strikes another under the chin “in the way called ''le soubriquet''”, and in 1398 two little blows with the fingers under the chin are called ''soubzbriquez''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 1440s it meant “mockery, a jibe”, a sense common in the 16th century;^(TLFi) Brantôme uses it of the jokes Roman soldiers made about Caesar.^(Littré 1873) Robert Estienne's Latin dictionary of 1531 has ''donner un sobriquet'' “to give a nickname”,^(TLFi)^(BHVF) and the modern sense, a mocking or familiar nickname, has been the only one since.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1355 – “A chuck under the chin”.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1440s – “Mockery”.^(TLFi)

+ * 1531 – “Nickname”, in Robert Estienne.^(TLFi)^(BHVF)

+ * late 16th century – The spelling ''sobriquet'' (Brantôme).^(GLLF 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|nickname]], often a mocking one, based on a person's looks, character, origin or trade.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|sobriquet]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}