tête French · revision 16341

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1050, Vie de saint Alexis|origins=la testa}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tɛt/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA: /ˈtɛ.tə/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Canada): /tɛːt/^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Canada): [taɛt]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tête''' ''f'' (plural têtes)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|teste]]; the Académie wrote ''teste'' in 1694 and 1718 and ''tête'' from 1740.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|teste]], [[inh|la|testa|t=earthenware vessel; tile; shell]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary)^(FEW|13/1, 272a) In Late Latin the word took, jokingly, the sense “skull” and then “head”, a shift by likeness of shape also seen in [[de|Kopf]], from Latin “cuppa” “cup”, and in French slang words for the head such as “cafetière” and “calebasse”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) Rey dismisses as fanciful the story that the shift reflects barbarians drinking from skulls, and notes that the word has no clear Indo-European correspondent.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ “Tête” gradually replaced the descendants of Latin [[m|la|caput]] (see [[chef]]), first in the north and east of France, Spanish still has only [[m|es|cabeza]], from a popular Latin “*capitium”.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Wiktionary) The older senses of “testa” survive in [[ro|țeastă|t=skull]] and [[pro|testa|t=shell]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992) Compare [[it|testa]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found about 1050 in the ''Vie de saint Alexis'': his father's servants throw their dishwater ''sur la teste'' “on his head”.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ By about 1100 the head was also the seat of thought and of the senses, and Old French used the word for a pot as well (about 1200).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) Phrases followed: ''perdre la teste'' (1160–1174), ''teste fole'' (1263–1265), ''avoir en teste'' “to remember” (1376), ''faire à sa teste'' (1461) and ''laver la tête'' “to scold” (late 15th century).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Avoir la tête près du bonnet'' “to be quick-tempered” is recorded in 1558, and ''faire sa tête'' “to put on airs” in 1833.^(BHVF)

+

+ Derivatives include [[têtu]] and [[têtière]] (13th century), [[entêter]] (13th century) and [[têtard]] (1762); [[tête-bêche]] (1838) is an alteration of older ''béchevet'', reinforced with ''tête'' when it was no longer understood.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1050 – ''Teste'' in the ''Vie de saint Alexis''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1100 – Seat of the senses, in the ''Chanson de Roland''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1160–1174 – ''Perdre la teste'' in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * 1376 – ''Avoir en teste''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1461 – ''Faire à sa teste''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1558 – ''Avoir la teste près du bonnet''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1740 – The Académie adopts the spelling ''tête''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1838 – ''Tête-bêche''.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|head]]: ''lever la tête'', ''avoir mal à la tête''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # The face, an expression: ''faire une drôle de tête'', ''faire la tête'', to sulk.^(DHLF 1992)^(BHVF)

+ # The mind, reason, memory: ''perdre la tête'', ''avoir en tête''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+ # A head, [[m|en|leader]]: ''à la tête de l'entreprise''.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(football)'' A [[m|en|header]].^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(colloquial)'' A brain, a bright person.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(perfumery)'' The top note.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[casse-tête]]

+ * [[tête-à-tête]]

+ * [[têtière]]

+ * [[testonner]]

+ * [[têtard]]

+ * [[têtu]]

+ * [[en-tête]]

+ * [[entêter]]

+ * [[étêter]]

+ * [[tête-bêche]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[chef]]

+ * [[la|testa]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}