caillou

Forms

caillou m (plural cailloux)^[1] Judeo-French chailos;^[2][3][1] Old French chaillou, chaillo, caillou, kailleu, cailloun.^[2][3][1] Middle French chail and the feminine chaille are related forms without the suffix.^[4][5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French caillou, the Norman and Picard form, which early replaced the central Old French chaillou.^[5][4][6] Its source is probably borrowed from Gaulish *caljávo- (“stony”),^[2][5][7] a derivative of *caljo- (“stone”), which is reconstructed from Latin epocalium (“horse's hoof”) in the glosses and Welsh caill (“testicles”).^[5][4] The base *cal- is also behind Latin callum (“callus”) and many place names, such as Chelles and Caille.^[2][5] The ending is not fully explained;^[4][5] Rey compares the suffix of place names in -ou such as Anjou.^[4][5]

Other explanations have been proposed: Littré derived it from Latin calculus (“pebble”), Pierre Guiraud from an adjective *calleus, and Wiktionary mentions, as less likely, Old Dutch kei (“stone”).^[8][6][1] The REW counts the Gaulish word among the northern French words only.^[9]

Compare Picard cailleu, Walloon caie, Occitan calhau and Portuguese calhão.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is the Judeo-French chailos in Rashi's glosses on the Talmud (second half of the 11th century), for a small stone.^[2] Chaillous is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure at the end of the 12th century, and caillou in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose about 1275.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has always meant a small or medium piece of hard stone.^[5] The central form chaillou lived on along much of the west of France as a sailors' word.^[5][4] Specialized uses appeared in jewellery for rolled rock crystal (1723, caillou d'Égypte 1762) and in geology (cailloux roulés, 1783–1788).^[2][5]

It served as an image of an obstacle (1671) and of hard insensitivity, and in slang meant a precious stone (about 1870).^[5] Since 1866 it has been a familiar word for the (bald) head.^[5][10] Le Caillou is the main island of New Caledonia, perhaps because of the penal colony there, casser des cailloux having meant “to be a convict”.^[5] In Canada roche competes with it in the same sense.^[5]

Timeline

• 1050–1100 – Judeo-French chailos in Rashi's glosses.^[2]
• late 12th century – Chaillous in Benoît de Sainte-Maure.^[2]
• c. 1275 – Caillou in Jean de Meun's Roman de la Rose.^[2]
• 1671 – Used as an image of an obstacle.^[5]
• 1723 – Savary des Bruslons records the jewellers' sense.^[2][10]
• 1762 – The Académie records caillou d'Égypte.^[2]
• 1783–1788 – Buffon writes of cailloux roulés.^[2]
• 1866 – First recorded as a familiar word for the head.^[5][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pebble or small stone, a fragment of hard rock: ramasser un caillou plat.^[7][2][1]
2. Cailloux roulés: stones rounded by running water.^[7][2]
3. A piece of rock crystal or similar stone that can be polished: caillou du Rhin.^[10][8]
4. (figurative) An obstacle or difficulty;^[10][8] avoir un cœur de caillou: to be hard-hearted.^[10][8]
5. (familiar) The head, especially a bald one.^[10][1][5]

Word family

• cailloutage
• caillouter
• caillouteux
• cailloutis

Related words

• Gaulish *caljo-

Usage notes

Casser des cailloux meant breaking stones for road-mending, and in old familiar French being sentenced to hard labour.^[7][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse