clouer

Forms

clouer^[1] Old French cloer;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also cloier, clauer and claver.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from French clou with the verb ending ⟨-er⟩.^[2][4][5] The noun is from Latin clāvus (“nail”).^[5] Wiktionary alternatively derives the verb from Late Latin clāvō.^[1] In Gallo-Romance it competed with other dialect formations of the same noun, and French also has clouter, made after cloutier.^[5]

Cognate with Walloon clawer, Spanish clavar, Catalan clavar and Italian chiovare.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record is cloer “to fix with nails” in Guillaume de Berneville's Vie de saint Gilles (1170–1185),^[2] but the Grand Robert dates cloer to 1138,^[4] and the Anglo-Norman Dictionary has it from 1155.^[3] Medieval texts often use it of Christ nailed to the cross.^[6]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense, to fasten or close with nails, has stayed central; the navy's clouer son pavillon, nailing the flag to the mast, showed that a crew would not surrender.^[7][6] From 1680 the verb is used figuratively for keeping someone motionless, as when illness keeps a person in bed.^[8][9] The Académie recorded the sense “to pin, immobilise as with a nail” in 1835, and clouer le bec à quelqu'un “to shut someone up” is recorded by Larousse in 1866.^[9]

Bloch and Wartburg note that clore lost ground partly because several of its forms sounded like those of clouer, so that Amyot could still write clouant les yeux for “closing the eyes”.^[5]

Timeline

• 1170–1185 – Cloer “to fix with nails” in the Vie de saint Gilles.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records clouage and clouement.^[2]
• 1680 – Richelet records the figurative sense “to keep motionless”.^[9][8]
• 1835 – The Académie records the sense “to pin, immobilise”.^[9][10]
• 1866 – Larousse records clouer le bec à quelqu'un.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To nail, fix or join with nails: clouer une planche.^[7][2]
2. (nautical) Clouer le pavillon: to nail the flag to the mast, as a sign of refusing to surrender.^[7]
3. To pin with a pointed object: clouer quelqu'un au sol d'un coup de lance.^[7]
4. (figurative) To hold someone motionless: être cloué au lit, rester cloué sur place.^[7][9]
5. (familiar) Clouer le bec à quelqu'un: to silence someone.^[7][9]
6. Clouer au pilori: to hold up to public scorn.^[7][1]

Word family

• clouage
• clouement
• déclouer
• enclouer
• reclouer

Related words

• clou
• clouter
• cloutier
• Latin clāvus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ 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
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF