mayonnaise French · revision 15723

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=derivation|attested=1806, Viard, Le Cuisinier impérial|origins=es Mahón}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ma.jɔ.nɛz/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mayonnaise''' ''f'' (plural mayonnaises)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is disputed.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) It is most often derived from the name of Port-Mahon, [[der|es|Mahón]], capital of Minorca, in memory of its capture by the Duke of Richelieu in 1756;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)^(FEW|6/1, 52a) tradition has it that the duke's cook made up the sauce from what he found on the island, eggs and oil.^(DHLF 1992) But the word is recorded only fifty years after the event, and never first as “mahonnaise”, so it has also been taken for a corrupt spelling of “bayonnaise”, from [[Bayonne]], as Bescherelle held.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Other proposals are a derivative of [[moyeu]], the old word for egg yolk, from the root of [[manier]] (hence the spelling “magnonaise”), or, after Pierre Guiraud, from [[m|frm|mailler|t=to beat]];^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005) Wiktionary adds the Duke of Mayenne.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Viard's ''Cuisinier impérial'' (1806) has ''saumon à la mayonnaise'', salmon with the cold sauce.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Early 19th-century cooks argued over the name: in 1808 a writer rejected both ''mayonnaise'' and ''mahonnaise'' for ''bayonnaise''.^(BHVF) The noun alone, ''sauce mayonnaise'' and dishes such as ''mayonnaise de volaille'' are found from 1855, when one cookery book still writes ''magnonaise''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Figuratively, ''la mayonnaise prend'' (“the mayonnaise is taking”) means that things are turning out well, and ''faire monter la mayonnaise'' is to blow a situation up.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse) Mechanics also call an emulsion of oil and water in an engine ''mayonnaise''.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1756 – The Duke of Richelieu takes Port-Mahon.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1806 – ''Saumon à la mayonnaise'' (Viard).^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1808 – ''Bayonnaise'' is urged as the correct name.^(BHVF)

+ * 1814 – ''Mayonnaise de lapereaux'' (Beauvilliers).^(BHVF)

+ * 1855 – ''Sauce mayonnaise''^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989); ''magnonaise'' (Audot).^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1878 – First recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|mayonnaise|alt=Mayonnaise]], a cold sauce made by beating oil into egg yolks with seasoning.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A dish of fish, poultry or vegetables served with this sauce: ''mayonnaise de homard''.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''La mayonnaise prend'': things are coming together^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007); ''faire monter la mayonnaise'': to [[m|en|dramatize]] a situation.^(Larousse)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|mayonnaise]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}