poche French · revision 17184

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 1180, Marie de France (puche)|origins=frk *pokka}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /pɔʃ/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''poche''' ''f'' (plural poches)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''puche'' (about 1180), then ''pouche'' and ''poche'' (14th century); Norman ''pouque''.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|frk|*pokka|t=purse, bag]], a form reconstructed from [[dum|poke|t=bag]] and [[non|poki|t=purse, small bag]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|16, 642a) Wiktionary gives the Frankish word as “*pokkō”, from [[gem-pro|*puhô|t=bag, pouch]], and compares [[ang|pohha]] and [[en|pocket]].^(Wiktionary) Scots [[en|poke|t=bag]] may be related too, or borrowed from French.^(DHLF 1992) Pierre Guiraud proposed that the Frankish word passed through Romance forms in “*popp-”, an expressive stem suggesting swelling.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ The word is found only in French; the north-east has words from Germanic “*taska” (compare [[de|Tasche]]), and Lyon, Savoy and French-speaking Switzerland “fata”, from Burgundian.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Marie de France's ''Fables'' (about 1180) has ''puche'', a purse or small bag, the first sense, now gone from standard French.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Middle French it was a large canvas sack for grain (1352), a rabbit-catching net (1376) and, in surgery, a sac-shaped cavity of the body (1377).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) The bird's crop followed in 1530, and in 1573 the pocket of a garment, which became the main sense.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The pocket gave many phrases: ''tenir une affaire dans sa poche'' (1690), later ''c'est dans la poche'' (1935); ''les mains dans les poches'' (1690); ''payer de sa poche'' and ''argent de la poche'' (1798), now ''argent de poche'' (1874); ''connaître comme sa poche'' (Flaubert, 1857).^(TLFi) ''De poche'' meant first smaller than usual (1644) and then small enough for a pocket (1690); a ''poche'' was also the dancing master's pocket fiddle (1594).^(TLFi)^(BHVF) ''Poches sous les yeux'' is in Colette (1903).^(TLFi) The old sense “bag” lives on in the west of France, in Switzerland (''une poche en plastique'') and in Canada, a sack for grain or flour.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1180 – ''Puche'' “purse”, Marie de France.^(TLFi)

+ * 1352 – A grain sack.^(TLFi)

+ * 1377 – A cavity of the body.^(TLFi)

+ * 1530 – A bird's crop, Palsgrave.^(TLFi)

+ * 1573 – The pocket of a garment.^(TLFi)

+ * 1594 – A pocket fiddle.^(BHVF)

+ * 1690 – ''Les mains dans les poches'', Furetière.^(TLFi)

+ * 1874 – ''Argent de poche''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1935 – ''C'est dans la poche''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|pocket]] in a garment: ''mettre la main dans sa poche'', ''argent de poche'', ''lampe de poche''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(regional, Switzerland, Canada)'' A bag, [[m|en|sack]]: ''une poche de farine'', ''une poche en plastique''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # A compartment of a bag or case.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # A pouch of an animal, as of a [[m|en|marsupial]]; a cavity of the body: ''poches sous les yeux''.^(Wiktionary)^(TLFi)

+ # A pocket of a substance: ''poche d'air'', ''poche de pétrole''; an enclave in a front line.^(TLFi)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(figurative)'' ''C'est dans la poche'': it is in the bag, ''connaître comme sa poche'', to know inside out, ''de sa poche'', out of one's own money.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A piping bag: ''poche à douille''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[empocher]]

+ * [[rempocher]]

+ * [[pochette]]

+ * [[pochée]]

+ * [[pocher]]

+ * [[pochoir]]

+ * [[pochard]]

+ * [[poche-revolver]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|pocket]]

+ * [[en|pouch]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate ''poche'' “ladle”, from Late Latin ''popia'' “wooden spoon”, is used in Switzerland and in cheese-making.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)^(Grand Robert 2005) ''Acheter chat en poche'' “to buy a pig in a poke” keeps the old sense “bag”.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}