clou

Forms

clou m (plural clous)^[1] Old French and Anglo-Norman clo, clau and cleu.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French clou, inherited from Latin clāvus (“peg, nail, boil”).^{[4][5][6][1][7]} The Latin word first meant a peg of wood, then of iron, and was used as a technical term at sea, in medicine and in farming.^[5][8] It belongs to an obscure family of technical words with the stem clau-, with clāvis (“key”) and claudō (“to close”).^[5][8][3] Wiktionary traces it through Proto-Italic *klāwos to Proto-Indo-European *kleh₂u-.^[1]

Cognate with Italian chiodo, Old Occitan clau, Catalan clau, Spanish clavo and Portuguese cravo.^[6][9][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1100 in the Chanson de Roland, for the nails or studs of a shield: Cheent li clou.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

Already in the 12th century it took the sense of a boil (1170), as Latin clāvus had, and in the 13th century clou de girofle named the nail-shaped flower bud of the clove tree (1225–1230).^[4][5] The proverb un clou chasse l'autre is found from 1615.^[10]

The word developed widely in 19th-century popular speech and slang.^[5] The pawnshop was le clou (1823), because pledged goods hung on nails there, and by comparison with the nail's holding power it meant prison (1835).^[4][5] With a scornful value it named a worn-out object (1865), an old bicycle (1898, whence biclou), a poor vehicle (1908), and des clous came to mean “nothing” (1886).^[4][5] The opposite sense, the high point of a show (1878), perhaps comes from the object hanging on a nail that catches the eye.^[5][4] Quebec French has cogner des clous “to nod off”.^[5] The passage clouté (1932) was a pedestrian crossing marked by large nail heads, whence les clous for a pedestrian crossing.^[5][11]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Clou in the Chanson de Roland.^[4]
• 1170 – Used of a boil in the Livre des Rois.^[4][5]
• 1225–1230 – Clou de girofle in Guillaume de Lorris's Roman de la Rose.^[4]
• 1615 – Un clou chasse l'autre.^[10]
• 1823 – Le clou “the pawnshop” in popular speech.^[4][5]
• 1835 – Slang use for prison.^[4][5]
• 1865 – Used of a worn-out object.^[4]
• 1878 – Le clou of a show, in Le Figaro.^[4]
• 1886 – Des clous “nothing”.^[4]
• 1898 – Used of an old bicycle.^[5]
• 1932 – Passage clouté for a pedestrian crossing.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A nail: a small pointed metal pin, usually with a head, used to fix, join or hang things.^[8][12][11]
2. Maigre comme un clou: very thin.^[13] River son clou à quelqu'un: to silence someone with a sharp reply.^[13] Enfoncer le clou: to drive a point home.^[11][1]
3. Clou de girofle: a clove.^[4][1]
4. (familiar, dated) A boil.^[12][4]
5. (familiar, dated) The pawnshop; also prison.^[12][4]
6. (familiar) An old, worn-out machine, especially a bicycle.^[12][5]
7. The main attraction or high point of a show or event.^[12][4]
8. (familiar) Des clous!: nothing, no way.^[1][4]
9. (familiar) Les clous: a pedestrian crossing.^[11]

Word family

• clouer
• cloutier
• enclouer
• clouter
• déclouer
• clouterie
• biclou

Related words

• clé
• clore
• clavier
• Latin clāvus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d 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 l m n o p q r s 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 768b
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse