pitoune

French

Etymology

According to Jacques Rousseau, it is cited to be from an Amerindian language meaning "log", [1] which however does not adequately describe how the term originally referred to a buckwheat pancake. Its usage as a term for a felled log being floated to a mill may be explained as a reference to a log's resemblance to a rolled pitoune.

In the sense "stunner; bimbo", often cited as an anglicism from a corruption of English happy town, but may have been coined as a feminine equivalent to pitou instead.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pi.tun/
  • Audio (Canada (Shawinigan)):(file)

Noun

pitoune f (plural pitounes)

  1. (Quebec, dated) buckwheat pancake
  2. felled log ready to be floated to the mill
  3. (Quebec, sometimes derogatory) stunner; bimbo

References

  1. ^ Jacques Rousseau, "Les Américanismes de parler canadien-français" (Americanisms in Canadian French Speech), Les Cahiers des Dix, volume 2, p. 97
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