colle

Forms

colle f (plural colles)^[1] Old French cole.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French cole, inherited from Vulgar Latin *colla, from Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla, “gum, glue”).^[4][5][6][2] The TLFi and the DHLF describe the word as taken from Greek through this Vulgar Latin form, which Wiktionary treats as an inherited word.^[4][2][1] Rey compares the Greek word with Indo-European terms such as Russian клей (klej, “glue”).^[2]

Cognate with Italian colla, Spanish cola and Portuguese cola.^[7][1][8] The school senses “oral test” and “detention” are probably deverbal uses of coller in its senses “to silence” and “to keep in”, and Bloch and Wartburg see no direct link between them and the old jargon word for “trick, lie”.^[4][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers (1268) uses cole for the glue that fixes a moulded piece to a saddle-bow.^[4][8]

Semantic evolution

From the substance that makes two surfaces stick, the word spread to any sticky matter.^[2] The idea of something that ensnares gave it figurative, usually unfavourable, senses.^[2] In the jargon of the Coquillards (1455) it meant a lie or a trick,^[4][2] a sense that Bloch and Wartburg say still lives in the dialects.^[6] Later it named a tedious thing or a person one cannot get rid of, as in pot de colle.^[2][9]

School slang gave it the sense of an oral test (about 1842), then of an awkward question, and after 1880 also of a detention; the familiar vivre à la colle “to live together unmarried” is also from 1880.^[4][2] Colle forte (early 16th century) and colle de pâte (1845) name kinds of glue.^[10]

Timeline

• 1268 – Cole appears in Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers.^[4][2]
• 1455 – The Coquillards' jargon uses it for a lie or trick.^[4][2]
• Early 16th century – Colle forte is recorded.^[10]
• c. 1842 – School slang uses it for an oral test.^[4][11]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records colle de pâte.^[10]
• 1880 – The sense “detention” and the phrase vivre à la colle appear.^[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. glue, a sticky substance used to join two surfaces: un tube de colle.^[9][4]
2. (familiar) Pot de colle: a person one cannot get rid of, a limpet.^[9][2]
3. (school slang) An oral test given in preparation for examinations.^[9][1]
4. (familiar) A difficult question, a stumper: poser une colle.^[9][1]
5. (school slang) A detention.^[9][1]

Word family

• coller
• collage
• collant
• colleur
• recoller
• décoller
• encoller

Related words

• Ancient Greek κόλλα (kólla)

Usage notes

The joke faites chauffer la colle ! is said when one hears something break.^[10][9][11]

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 891a
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF