corail French · revision 15762

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=before 1150, Marbode's lapidary, coral|origins=grc κοράλλιον}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kɔ.ʁaj/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''corail''' ''m'' (plural coraux)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Coral'' (before 1150), ''courail'' (1328), ''corail'' (1416); plural ''coraux''; the Académie of 1694 still gives ''coral''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|coral]], [[inh|la-lat|corallum]], an altered form of classical [[la|corallium]],^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|2, 1178a) from [[grc|κοράλλιον|tr=korállion]], itself probably a borrowing.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary) Proposed sources are a Greek phrase “daughter of the sea”, calqued on an Indian expression, or a Semitic word such as Hebrew “gôrāl” “small stone”.^(DHLF 1992) The ending “-ail” was remade from the plural “coraux”, and won out only in the 18th century.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Cognate with [[oc|coralh]], [[es|coral]] and [[it|corallo]].^(Littré 1873)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Marbode's lapidary (before 1150) has ''coral'', the hard red substance used in jewellery; the guild statutes of 1260 mention makers of rosaries ''de coural''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Long taken for a plant, as the 14th-century inventories that describe it as soft white wood turning to stone in the air show, coral was recognized as made by marine animals^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi); ''corail'' names both the colonies of polyps of warm seas (in zoology from 1775) and the limestone skeleton they secrete, used in jewellery.^(Littré 1873)^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ From its colour, Du Bellay (1549) praised ''le coral de voz levres'', and ''corail'' is a bright red colour, as in ''serpent corail'' (1775), the coral snake.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) It also names the red part of scallops and sea urchins.^(DHLF 1992) ''Corailleur'' (1679) is a coral fisher.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * before 1150 – ''Coral'' (Marbode's lapidary).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1328 – ''Un arbre de courail''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1416 – ''Corail'' (inventory of the Duke of Berry).^(TLFi)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1549 – ''Le coral de voz levres'' (Du Bellay).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1679 – ''Corailleur''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+ * 1775 – The animal^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992); ''serpent corail''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|coral|alt=Coral]], the colonial marine animal of warm seas: ''récif de corail''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Its red or white limestone skeleton, used in jewellery: ''collier de corail''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The red part (coral) of a [[m|en|scallop]] or sea urchin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Coral-red: ''des lèvres corail''.^(Larousse)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[corailleur]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[coralliaire]]

+ * [[corallien]]

+ * [[corallifère]]

+ * [[coralliforme]]

+ * [[coralligène]]

+ * [[corallin]]

+ * [[en|coral]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A second ''corail'' (1975–1976), from ''co(nfort)'' and ''rail'' influenced by the first, is the name of a type of French railway carriage: ''voiture corail'', ''train corail''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}