chenille

Forms

chenille f (plural chenilles)^[1] Anglo-Norman chenil and chenile.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin canīcula (“little dog”), a diminutive of canis (“dog”), from the shape of the caterpillar's head, compared to a little dog's.^{[3][4][5][6][7]} In Classical Latin the word meant a dogfish and, figuratively, a shrewish woman.^[3] The same Latin word gave the learned canicule.^[4][1]

The word is only Gallo-Romance: it replaced Latin ērūca, the source of Spanish oruga and Old Occitan eruca, which survives in Gascon and Languedocian.^[5] Rey reports that Pierre Guiraud, pointing to chenillée as a name of cup-shaped flowers and to the use of the word for sea snails, saw in it a dissimilated Vulgar Latin *calicula, after Latin caliculum (“cup”).^[4]

Cognate with Old Occitan canilha and Picard queneille.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1214, in Angier, for the caterpillar, the larva of a butterfly or moth.^[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the larva, often set against the butterfly, it was used of a nasty or repulsive person (1690, Furetière), a sense now dated.^[4][3][8]

By likeness of shape it named a velvety cord used in trimmings (1680), whence English chenille (1738),^[3][4][10] and the endless track of a vehicle (1922), perhaps a calque of English caterpillar, which had that sense from 1915.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1214 – First record, in Angier.^[3][4]
• 14th century – The verb escheniller “to clear of caterpillars”.^[4]
• 1680 – Richelet records the trimming.^[3][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records “nasty person”.^[3][4]
• 1738 – English borrows chenille for the cord.^[10]
• 1922 – “Caterpillar track”, in the Larousse universel.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A caterpillar, the larva of a butterfly or moth: chenille processionnaire.^[11][3]
2. (dated, figurative) A nasty, spiteful person.^[8][3]
3. Chenille, a velvety cord used in trimmings and embroidery.^[11][12][1]
4. A caterpillar track: an endless band of jointed plates fitted round the wheels of a vehicle.^[12][1]
5. A whirligig, a fairground ride.^[1]

Word family

• chenillette
• chenillère
• écheniller
• chenillé

Related words

• canicule
• chien
• Latin canīcula

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 188a
8. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
11. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse