couteau French · revision 15643

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1130, Couronnement de Louis (coltel)|origins=la culter}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ku.to/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''couteau''' ''m'' (plural couteaux)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''coltel'', ''coutel'' (nominative ''cultels'', ''cultaus''); ''couteau'' from 1316.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|coltel]], [[inh|la|cultellus|t=small knife]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|2, 1498b) the diminutive of [[m|la|culter|t=knife; ploughshare]], which itself gave [[coutre]] “coulter”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) The diminutive was the everyday word for “knife”.^(DHLF 1992) Rey connects ''culter'' with an Indo-European root [[ine-pro|*(s)kel-|t=to cut]].^(DHLF 1992) It is not related to [[couper]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Cognate with [[it|coltello]], [[oc|coltel]] and [[es|cuchillo]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Couronnement de Louis'' (about 1130) has ''coltel'' for a cutting tool.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Besides the knife itself, the word was used in falconry for certain feathers (about 1265),^(TLFi) for the razor clam (Cotgrave, 1611)^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary) and for the knife-edge on which a balance pivots (1863).^(TLFi) ''Être à couteaux tirés'' “to be at daggers drawn” is from 1680, after a 1586 phrase.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The ''couteau de Jeannot'', whose blade and handle are replaced in turn, became a proverb for something constantly renewed yet the same.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ Derivatives include ''coutelier'' “cutler” (12th century), ''coutellerie'' (1260) and ''coutelas'' “cutlass” (1564).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1130 – ''Coltel''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 12th century – ''Coutelier''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1316 – ''Couteau''.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+ * 1564 – ''Coutelas''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1611 – The razor clam.^(TLFi)

+ * 1680 – ''Être à couteaux tirés''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|knife]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A [[m|en|razor clam]].^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # The knife-edge on which a balance beam pivots.^(TLFi)

+ # ''Être à couteaux tirés'': to be at daggers drawn.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[coutelas]]

+ * [[coutelier]]

+ * [[coutellerie]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fourchette]]

+ * [[coutre]]

+ * [[la|cultellus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}