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cédule

Etymology and origin of the French word cédule

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Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
late 12th century, Vie de saint Évroult
Ultimate origin
Latin (scheda)

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /se.dyl/[1]

Forms

cédule f (plural cédules)[1] Cedule, sedule (1285), schedule (Rabelais, Amyot).[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin schedula (“small sheet of paper”) (also “scedula”),[2][4][5][6] a diminutive of Latin scheda (“leaf, page; strip of papyrus”), a word of unknown origin.[4][7] The spelling “scida” (Cicero) once suggested a link with Latin scindō (“to split”), but Rey sees it as a secondary spelling after Greek “skhizein” and Latin “scindere”.[4]

The Latin word passed into most Romance and Germanic languages: Old Occitan cedula, Spanish cédula, Italian cedola, German Zettel.[4][3] English schedule (1397, “sedule”) is from French.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Vie de saint Évroult (late 12th century) has cedule for a note giving notice of something;[2] the Livre des métiers (1285) has une sedule qui estoit le trancript de la dite letre.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From 1314 a cédule was a private note acknowledging a debt or deposit (Rabelais's schedules, La Fontaine's Aesop), whence the old plaider contre sa cédule “to deny the obvious”.[2][8][3] In the old university it was a slip naming the pupils who had misbehaved.[3]

Most of these uses have gone, except in law (cédule de citation) and in tax law, where until 1948 a cédule was the sheet for declaring one category of income, whence impôt cédulaire (1796).[4][5][2] In Quebec, under the influence of English schedule, cédule means a timetable, programme (la cédule d'une équipe de hockey), with the verb céduler.[4][1]

Timeline

  • Late 12th century – Cedule “note”.[2]
  • 1285 – Sedule in the Livre des métiers.[2]
  • 1314 – An acknowledgment of debt.[2]
  • 1397 – English sedule.[4]
  • 1796 – Cédulaire.[2]
  • 1948 – The impôt cédulaire abolished.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (dated) A note of debt, IOU.[1][9]
  2. (law) A summons or order: cédule de citation.[8][4]
  3. (tax, history) A schedule, category of income; the form for declaring it.[9][10]
  4. (Canada) A schedule, timetable.[1][4]

Word family

  • cédulaire
  • cédulaire

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
  3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 296a
  7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  9. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Cédule.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/c%C3%A9dule. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

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