bille

bille¹ marble, ball

Pronunciation

• /bij/^[1]

Forms

bille f (plural billes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a small ball is inherited from Old French bille, in the commonly accepted view probably borrowed from Frankish *bikkil (“die, knucklebone”), a form inferred from Middle High German bickel (“die, knucklebone”) and Dutch bikkel (“knucklebone”).^[2][3][4][1] The Grand Robert notes that the sense “small ball” seems fairly recent, the word first meaning “ball” in general.^[3] Guiraud prefers a metonymy of bille² in the sense “bent stick” (the source of billard), through a verb biller “to throw a ball at skittles”, recorded only in the 14th and 15th centuries.^[2][3] Littré instead thought of a confusion between the word for a log and Latin bulla (“bubble, knob”).^[5]

Italian biglia and Spanish billa are borrowed from French.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Chrétien de Troyes in 1164, is figurative: a thing of no value.^[2][6] The Roman de Renart has n'i donroie une bille “I would not give a marble for it”, and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary has the word in the first third of the 13th century as a small ball standing for something worthless.^[5][7]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense “small ball” is recorded about 1278.^[2] The word came to name the ball of children's games and, from 1611, the ivory ball of billiards.^[2][3] Games gave figurative phrases: faire bille pareille “to be even” (16th century, now gone), bille en tête “boldly, head first” (mid-20th century), toucher sa bille “to know one's business” (about 1970) and reprendre ses billes “to pull out of a joint venture”.^[2][4]

In slang it meant the head from 1883, still common in familiar speech, and hence a fool, also as an adjective.^[2] In technology it names a small, often metal ball (1892), as in roulement à billes “ball bearing” and stylo à bille “ballpoint pen” (about 1950).^[2]

Timeline

• 1164 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for a thing of no value.^[2][6]
• c. 1278 – It means a small ball.^[2]
• 1611 – It names the billiard ball.^[2][3]
• 1883 – Slang uses it for the head.^[2]
• 1892 – It names a small metal ball in machinery.^[2]
• c. 1950 – Stylo à bille “ballpoint pen” appears.^[2]
• c. 1970 – Toucher sa bille “to be competent” appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A marble, a small ball of glass, stone or clay for children's games;^[4][1][5] les billes, the game itself: Les garçons jouent aux billes dans la cour.^[4][1][5]
2. A billiard ball.^[4][8][1]
3. A small metal ball in a mechanism: roulement à billes “ball bearing”, stylo à bille “ballpoint pen”.^[1][2]
4. Bille en tête: boldly, head on;^[4][2] toucher sa bille: to be very competent;^[4][2] reprendre ses billes: to withdraw from a joint undertaking.^[4][2]
5. (familiar) The face or head: une bille de clown.^[2][8]
6. (familiar) A fool, a dimwit.^[2][1]

Word family

• billebaude

bille² log, tree trunk

Pronunciation

• /bij/^[1]

Forms

bille f (plural billes)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a log is inherited from Vulgar Latin *bilia (“tree trunk”), recorded as Medieval Latin billia about 1198 and earlier as billa and billus.^[8][2][6][4] Like its counterparts in northern Italy, it is probably a Gaulish word, from Gaulish *bilia, reconstructed from Irish bile (“tree trunk”) and Scottish Gaelic bile (“small leaf”).^[8][2][9][3] Littré also compared Walloon bèie (“stick, skittle”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

In French it is first found in 1372 in a letter of remission, in the plural billes meaning skittles.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

In passing into French, the word took the sense “piece of wood cut from the trunk or a thick branch”; by 1393 it stressed the long shape, and in 1532 Rabelais used it for a stick.^[8][2] That sense, already dated in the 17th century, survived in technical uses: a stick for tightening bales (1680), a boatmen's hauling pole (1690) and a pastry roller (1741).^[8][2]

By analogy with an ingot of metal, it meant money in slang from 1579, a sense now gone.^[2] It named a bar of chocolate from the late 17th century, until barre replaced it, and survives so in the south of France.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1198 – Medieval Latin billia “tree trunk” is recorded.^[8][2]
• 1372 – Billes means skittles.^[8][9]
• 1393 – The Ménagier de Paris uses it for a long piece of wood.^[8]
• 1532 – Rabelais uses it for a stick.^[8]
• 1579 – Slang uses it for money.^[2]
• 1680 – Richelet records it for a stick used to tighten bales.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A log, a section of a tree trunk to be squared or sawn into planks: une bille de hêtre.^[4][3][6]
2. (technical) A bar or ingot of metal.^[3][6]
3. (regional, southern France) A bar of chocolate.^[4][2]

Word family

• billard
• billette
• billot
• billon