creux French · revision 17620

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1121, Voyage de saint Brendan|origins=la-vul *crosus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /kʁø/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''creux''' (feminine creuse, masculine plural creux, feminine plural creuses)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|crues]], feminine ''cruose'' (about 1180); ''creus'' from the 13th century.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|crues]], [[inh|la-vul|*crosus]], of uncertain origin.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989) Because the word is spread through Gallo-Romance ([[pro|cros]]) and the Rhaeto-Romance and northern Italian dialects, the DHLF, Bloch and Wartburg and the FEW think it probably Celtic, a word that would have replaced Latin [[m|la|cavus|t=hollow]].^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|2, 1362a) Wiktionary also mentions [[la-lat|crosum]], from Latin [[m|la|corrōsus|t=gnawed away]].^(Wiktionary) Diez had proposed that participle, while Littré derived the word from Latin [[m|la|crypta|t=vault, grotto]], since Old Occitan has both [[m|pro|crosa]] and [[m|pro|crota]].^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ As a noun it first appears about 1121, in Benedeit's ''Voyage de saint Brendan'', for a hollowed-out cavity; the adjective, ''cruose'', is in Marie de France's ''Bisclavret'' (about 1180).^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The adjective generally expresses the idea of an empty interior; by extension it meant “emptied of substance” (about 1474), literally and figuratively.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) ''Songer creux'' (15th century) survives only in [[songe-creux]], ''viande creuse'' (1611) has gone out of use, but ''tête creuse'' (1611) remains.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi) From the 12th century it also described a concave shape, a valley (Renart, 1174–77) or a face hollowed by thinness (13th century, then before 1613).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ The noun named moral or intellectual emptiness from Bossuet (before 1697), and parts of the body: ''le creux de l'œil'' (1549), ''le creux de la main'' (1559), ''le creux de l'estomac'' (1611).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) With a word for a period of time, the adjective implies slack activity, as in ''heures creuses''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007) In Canadian French ''creux'' means “deep” (''une rivière creuse'') and, figuratively, remote.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1121 – The noun in the ''Voyage de saint Brendan''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1174–77 – ''Un val crues'' in the ''Roman de Renart''.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1180 – The adjective ''cruose'' in Marie de France.^(TLFi)

+ * 15th century – ''Songer creux''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1549 – ''Le creux de l'œil'' in Estienne.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – Cotgrave records ''teste creuse'' and ''viande creuse''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – Furetière: ''avoir un beau creux de voix''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # [[m|en|hollow|alt=Hollow]], empty inside: ''un arbre creux'', ''une dent creuse''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Of a sound, made by striking something hollow; also as an adverb, ''sonner creux''.^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''Avoir le ventre creux'', to be hungry, ''avoir le nez creux'', to have a good [[m|en|flair]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Having little substance; of periods, slack: ''heures creuses'', [[m|en|off-peak]] hours.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Empty of meaning: ''des paroles creuses''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # Concave, [[m|en|sunken]]: ''assiette creuse'', ''joues creuses'', ''chemin creux''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+ # ''(Canada)'' Deep: ''une rivière creuse''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A hollow, a [[m|en|cavity]]: ''le creux d'un rocher''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # The hollow of a part of the body: ''le creux de la main''.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Avoir un petit creux'': to feel a little hungry.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # A period of slack activity, ''le creux de la vague'', the trough of the wave.^(Wiktionary)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[creuser]]

+ * [[creusage]]

+ * [[creusement]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[songe-creux]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}