pis French · revision 38613

+ French has two words spelled ''pis'': the udder, from Latin ''pectus'' “breast”, and the comparative “worse”, from Latin ''pēius''.^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

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+ {{homograph|1|udder}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Passion|origins=la pectus}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pis''' ''m'' (invariable)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French [[m|fro|peiz]] (late 10th century), [[m|fro|piz]] (about 1050), then ''pis''.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

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+ ==Etymology==

+ The udder is [[inh|fro|piz]], [[inh|la|pectus|t=breast, chest; heart]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(FEW|8, 111b)^(Wiktionary) Littré notes that it is one of the few nouns that kept in Old French the final ⟨-s⟩ of the Latin neuter, like [[m|fro|tems]] from [[m|la|tempus]] and [[m|fro|cors]] from [[m|la|corpus]].^(Littré 1873) Rey calls the Latin word one without a counterpart outside Italic and Celtic;^(DHLF 1992) Wiktionary traces it through [[itc-pro|*pektos]] to [[ine-pro|*peg-|t=breast]].^(Wiktionary)

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+ Cognate with [[wa|pé]], [[it|petto]], [[es|pecho]] and [[pt|peito]].^(Littré 1873)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found as ''peiz'' in the ''Passion'' of Clermont (late 10th century), meaning “chest, breast”.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The sense “chest” lasted through the Middle Ages and the 16th century and disappeared in the 17th in favour of [[poitrine]];^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi) Furetière (1690) calls it an old word, still used of a priest taking an oath with ''la main au pis''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi) The rural sense “udder of a dairy animal”, first found about 1180 in Guillaume de Berneville's ''Life of Saint Giles'', prevailed in French and in most Gallo-Romance dialects.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 10th century – ''Peiz'' “chest” in the ''Passion''.^(TLFi)

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

+ * c. 1180 – The udder, in Guillaume de Berneville.^(TLFi)

+ * 1690 – Furetière calls the sense “chest” old.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|udder]] of a female mammal, especially of a cow, goat or ewe.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''(rare)'' A woman's breast.^(TLFi)

+ # ''(obsolete)'' The chest.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ {{homograph|2|worse}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=late 10th century, Vie de saint Léger|origins=la pēior}}

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+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * /pi/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pis''' (invariable)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The comparative “worse” is [[inh|la|pēius]], the neuter of [[m|la|pēior|t=worse]], which gave [[pire]].^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(FEW|8, 155a) It served as the comparative of [[mal]].^(TLFi)

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+ Cognate with [[pro|pieitz]] and [[it|peggio]].^(Littré 1873)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found as ''peis'' in the ''Vie de saint Léger'' (second half of the 10th century), as an adjective with a neuter subject, the comparative of ''mal''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

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+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The word had its main uses before the end of the 12th century: as a noun without article, ''avoir pis'' (about 1160), as an adverb (1160–1174, Wace) and as a superlative, “the worst thing” (1155, Wace).^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Aller de mal en pis'' dates from 1245, ''qui pis est'' from Charles d'Orléans (1450–1465), and ''dire pis que pendre de quelqu'un'' is recorded by Cotgrave (1611); ''mettre les choses au pis'' is in Dancourt (1714).^(TLFi)

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+ In modern French it lives on in set phrases such as ''tant pis'', and popular speech tends to replace it with [[pire]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(TLFi)

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+ ==Timeline==

+ * Late 10th century – ''Peis'' in the ''Vie de saint Léger''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1155 – As a superlative, in Wace.^(TLFi)

+ * c. 1160 – The spelling ''pis'', in the ''Roman d'Eneas''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1245 – ''Aller de mal en pis''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1450–1465 – ''Que pis est'', in Charles d'Orléans.^(TLFi)

+ * 1611 – ''Dire pis que pendre'', in Cotgrave.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adverb===

+ # ''(dated or literary)'' [[m|en|worse]], less well.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Tant pis'': too bad, never mind, ''de mal en pis'', from bad to worse.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)

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+ ===Adjective===

+ # ''(literary)'' Worse, more unfortunate, with a neuter subject, ''qui pis est'', what is worse.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

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+ ===Noun===

+ # Something worse: ''dire pis que pendre de quelqu'un'', to say the worst things about someone.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(TLFi)

+ # ''Au pis aller'': at the worst, ''le pis'', the worst.^(Littré 1873)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[poitrine]]

+ * [[pire]]

+ * [[la|pectus]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ In colloquial French of northern France and North America ''pis'' is also a reduced form of [[puis]] meaning “and, besides”, perhaps taken from dialect forms such as Picard ''pis''.^(Wiktionary)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}