aiguille

Forms

aiguille f (plural aiguilles)^[1] Old French aguille, used until the 16th century;^[2][3][4] aiguille appears in the 15th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French aguille, inherited from Late Latin acūcula (“pine needle”), a diminutive of acus (“needle”).^[2][3][5][6] The present spelling was remade after aigu, whose sound history ran parallel.^[2][3][4] It was long pronounced with /ɡy/ and in the 18th and 19th centuries with a palatal /ʎ/; the modern pronunciation, which cuts it off from the adjective, is poorly explained.^[2][3]

Littré first derived it from acicula but accepted Mussafia's objection that this would have given a different French form.^[7] Cognate with Italian agucchia, Occitan agulha, Catalan agulla, Spanish aguja and Portuguese agulha.^[8][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Chrétien de Troyes uses aguille in 1177 in the Chevalier au lion, of a sewing needle: et fil et aguille a ses manches “thread and needle in her sleeves”.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The sewing needle gave phrases such as de fil en aiguille “from one thing to the next” (early 13th century), sur la pointe d'une aiguille “over trifles” (1561), chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin (17th century) and, after the Gospel, passer par le trou d'une aiguille.^[9][2] Knitting needles (1680), hairpins (1636) and surgeons' needles followed.^[2][9]

Other senses keep only the idea of a pointed metal rod: the compass needle (1208), the gnomon of a sundial (1549), the hand of a clock or watch (1660), the pointer of a balance (1636), the firing pin of a rifle, as in fusil à aiguille, and the gramophone needle.^[2][9] On the railway aiguille is the movable rail of a set of points (1819, 1834), whence aiguiller and aiguilleur.^[9][3] By likeness it named a church spire (late 12th century) and, much later, a sharp mountain peak (1779, Saussure).^[2][9][10]

Timeline

• 1177 – Aguille appears in Chrétien de Troyes' Chevalier au lion.^[9]
• Late 12th century – Used of a church spire.^[9][2]
• 1208 – Guiot de Provins uses it for the compass needle.^[9]
• Early 13th century – De fil en aiguille in the Roman de la Rose.^[9]
• 15th century – The spelling aiguille appears; it wins out over aguille in the 16th.^[2][3]
• 1567 – Amyot uses it for the pointer on a dial.^[9]
• 1779 – Saussure applies it to a mountain peak.^[9][2]
• 1834 – Used of railway points.^[9][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A needle for sewing or embroidery: enfiler une aiguille.^[11][4][1]
2. A needle for other uses: knitting needle, surgical or hypodermic needle.^[9][1]
3. The hand of a clock or watch, the pointer of a dial: la petite aiguille.^[2][1]
4. The needle of a compass.^[9][1]
5. (railways) A set of points, a switch.^[9][1]
6. (botany) The needle-shaped leaf of a conifer.^[1]
7. A sharp mountain peak; a church spire.^[2][1]

Word family

• aiguiller
• aiguillette

Related words

• aigu
• aiguillon
• aiguiser
• Latin acus

Usage notes

De fil en aiguille means “little by little, one thing leading to another”, and chercher une aiguille dans une botte de foin is to look for something almost impossible to find.^[4][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 118a
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert