datte French · revision 15784

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1180, Roman d'Alexandre, date|origins=grc δάκτυλος}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /dat/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''datte''' ''f'' (plural dattes)^(Wiktionary)

+ ''Date'', ''dade'' (about 1180), ''datle'', ''dacte''^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873); ''datte'' from 1575, perhaps after Italian.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[bor|pro|datil]] (after 1288) rather than [[it|dattero]] (before 1342), which fits the sounds less well;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 2b) a Romance intermediary is needed to explain the French form, though the Italian spelling may have influenced “datte”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Both come from [[la|dactylus|t=date]], from [[grc|δάκτυλος|tr=dáktulos|t=finger]], from the long shape of the fruit.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873) The REW takes the French word from Italian.^(REW 1935) It is a doublet of [[dactyle]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ The link with “dactylus” was still felt in the 17th century, when Furetière wrote that one ought to spell it “dacte”.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The ''Roman d'Alexandre'' (about 1180) has ''date'' for the fruit of the date palm;^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) the 13th-century ''Livre des métiers'' lists ''dates, figues'' among dried fruit.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In the 16th and 17th centuries the fruit was also called ''prune de datte'' (Thevet, 1575) or ''prune datte'' (Olivier de Serres, 1600); Nicot (1606) has ''datte''.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) The tree is the ''dattier'' (''datier'' 1236).^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ Like ''prune'' or ''guigne'', the word took a negative figurative value in popular speech: ''c'est comme des dattes !'' “no chance!” (Courteline, 1886), ''des dattes !'' “nothing doing!”, and ''ne pas en fiche une datte'' “to do nothing at all” (1897).^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1180 – ''Date'' (''Roman d'Alexandre'').^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1236 – ''Datier'', the date palm.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1575 – ''Prune de datte''; the spelling ''datte''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1606 – ''Datte'' (Nicot).^(TLFi)

+ * 1886 – ''C'est comme des dattes !'' (Courteline).^(TLFi)

+ * 1897 – ''Ne pas en foutre une datte'' (Jehan Rictus).^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|date]], the sweet fruit of the [[m|en|date palm]]: ''régime de dattes'', ''datte fourrée''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(popular, dated)'' ''Des dattes !'': nothing doing!^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992); ''ne pas en fiche une datte'': to do nothing at all.^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[dattier]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dactyle]]

+ * [[doigt]]

+ * [[en|date]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}