môme French · revision 17588

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=onomatopoeia|attested=1821, Desgranges}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /mom/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''môme''' ''m or f'' by sense (plural mômes)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is not settled:^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005) the TLFi, following Bloch and Wartburg and the FEW, takes it as probably formed on an expressive stem imitating the first sounds a child makes;^(TLFi)^(FEW|6/3, 60b) Rey finds the same stem in [[marmonner]] and perhaps in the word for a masquerade.^(DHLF 1992) The Petit Robert calls it of unknown origin.^(Petit Robert 2007) The Grand Robert mentions a link with [[m|fr|momon|t=mask]] and [[m|fr|momier|t=grimacer]], the child seen as a little monkey, and Pierre Guiraud's derivation from a stem meaning “to suck”.^(Grand Robert 2005) Littré connected it with [[momerie]], from a 16th-century line of Du Bellay where the word seems to mean mockers.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Desgranges records it in 1821, in his little dictionary of popular speech, for a young boy or adolescent; the same year a list of the slang of the Brest prison uses it for children in relation to their parents.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In old slang it also meant a newborn child, hence ''faire couler'' or ''descendre le môme'' “to have an abortion”, and in 1841 a young homosexual.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) The feminine ''la môme'' meant a girl from 1845, and, with a possessive, a man's mistress from 1864.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) As an adjective (''il est encore tout môme'', very young) it dates from 1834.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989) The 19th century coined several expressive derivatives, all now gone (''momacque'', ''momignard''), except ''mominette'' (1880) “little girl”, later a small glass of absinthe (1894) and a small bottle of white wine.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1821 – A boy, in Desgranges; children of a family, in the slang of the Brest prison.^(TLFi)

+ * 1834 – Used as an adjective.^(GLLF 1989)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ * 1845 – ''La môme'', a girl.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1864 – A mistress.^(TLFi)

+ * 1935 – Recorded by the Académie.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(familiar)'' A [[m|en|kid]], a child: ''une petite môme de cinq ans'', ''sales mômes !''^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar, feminine, dated)'' A girl, a young woman: ''une belle môme''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+ # ''(familiar, dated)'' ''Sa môme'': a man's girlfriend or [[m|en|mistress]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Larousse)

+

+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(familiar)'' Very young: ''elle est encore toute môme''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Le Robert)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mominette]]

+ * [[gosse]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}