aumaille

Forms

aumaille f (plural aumailles)^[1] Old French almaille;^[2][1] Anglo-Norman also has aumaile, amaille and animaille.^[3] A Swiss variant is armaille.^[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French almaille, inherited from Old French almaille, inherited from Latin animālia (“animals”), the neuter plural of the Latin noun for animal, taken as a feminine singular.^[1][5][2][6] It is thus a doublet of animal, which was borrowed from Latin.^[1][7]

The same plural survives in Romanian nămaie (“small horned cattle”) and in Swiss French dialect words for cattle and the cow, and the singular in Old French aumel (“head of cattle”).^[8] Bloch and Wartburg say the word is still in use in many dialects, and that it gave the Gruyère word armailli (“cowherd”).^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is recorded from the early 12th century as almaille, meaning large livestock.^[2][5] Anglo-Norman texts of the first half of the 12th century use it for animals and living creatures in general, and for domestic animals and herds.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word kept its sense of “large cattle”, especially horned beasts, but became rural or archaic.^[5][4] In the plural it named the herd as a whole, and in the singular one head of cattle, as when George Sand writes of a boy proud to have une si belle aumaille at the end of his goad (1849).^[9][4] More rarely it was used of fattened stock.^[9]

It passed into Middle English as almaille.^[3]

Timeline

• early 12th century – First recorded as almaille “large cattle”.^[2][5]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records troupeau d'aumailles.^[9]
• 1849 – George Sand uses it of a team of oxen in La Petite Fadette.^[9]
• 1897 – Jean Richepin counts deux cents aumailles in Le Chemineau.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. (archaic, dialect) Large livestock, especially horned cattle; in the plural, a herd of such beasts.^[9][4][1]
2. (archaic) A single head of cattle.^[9]

Related words

• animal

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 589a
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f g 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