fesse French · revision 17629

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 1200, Courtois d'Arras|origins=la findō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /fɛs/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fesse''' ''f'' (plural fesses)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|fro|fesse]], [[inh|la-vul|*fissa]], meaning both “anus” and “buttocks”, a neuter plural taken as a feminine of Latin [[m|la|fissum|t=cleft, slit]], the noun use of the past participle of [[m|la|findō|t=to split]], the source of [[fendre]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|3, 581b) Wiktionary notes that the word first referred to the cleft between the buttocks, and that the verb [[fesser]] is unrelated though it has converged with it.^(Wiktionary) Littré cites a 14th-century hunting treatise which distinguishes the fleshy masses from the cleft between them, apparently the first meaning of the word.^(Littré 1873)

+

+ The word replaced Old French [[m|fro|nache]], [[m|fro|nage]], used from the 12th to the 16th century, from [[la-vul|*natica]], from [[la|natis|t=buttock]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989) This sense is found only in French.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLFi's first record is in ''Courtois d'Arras'' (about 1200); the Grand Robert and Petit Robert date it to 1360, and Littré quotes Machaut, where a horse bites a man ''en la fesse''.^(TLFi)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Fesse'' is used in phrases where it competes with [[derrière]] and more often with [[cul]]: ''avoir chaud aux fesses'' (1743), ''n'y aller que d'une fesse'' (1611, Cotgrave), to do something half-heartedly.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989) ''Coûter la peau des fesses'', to cost a fortune, seems later than ''coûter la peau'' (1897, Alphonse Allais), and ''prendre par la peau des fesses'' is recorded in 1904.^(DHLF 1992) By analogy sailors use it for the rounded part of a ship's stern (1736).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) In familiar use ''de fesse'', like ''de cul'', means pornographic.^(DHLF 1992) Derivatives include [[fessier]] (16th century) and [[fessu]] (13th century).^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1200 – In ''Courtois d'Arras''.^(TLFi)

+ * Mid-14th century – In Guillaume de Machaut.^(GLLF 1989)^(Littré 1873)

+ * 1611 – Cotgrave: ''n'y aller que d'une fesse''.^(GLLF 1989)

+ * 1736 – Aubin: the rounded part of a ship's stern.^(TLFi)

+ * 1743 – ''Avoir chaud aux fesses''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1904 – ''Prendre par la peau des fesses''.^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|buttock]], ''les fesses'', the buttocks, the [[m|en|bottom]].^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''Coûter la peau des fesses'': to cost a fortune, ''serrer les fesses'': to be afraid.^(DHLF 1992)^(GLLF 1989)

+ # ''(familiar)'' ''De fesse(s)'': erotic, pornographic.^(DHLF 1992)^(Petit Robert 2007)

+ # ''(nautical)'' The rounded part of the stern of a ship.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fessier]]

+ * [[fessu]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fendre]]

+ * [[fessée]]

+ * [[la|fissum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}