couillon

Forms

couillon m (plural couillons, feminine couillonne)^[1] Old French coillon;^[2][3] Middle French coion and coyon, from Italian.^[2][3] Coyon was still listed by Larousse in the 20th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French coillon (“testicle”), inherited from Late Latin *coleō (accusative *coleonem), an altered form of Latin coleus (“testicle”).^[2][3][4][5] Cognate with Old Occitan colhon, Catalan colló and Spanish cojón.^[6][5]

The figurative sense “soft, spineless man, fool” is borrowed from Italian coglione (“testicle, fool”), borrowed in the 16th century as coion (1560) and coyon (1592).^[2][5][4] The TLFi thinks the sense “coward” (1813) is probably a semantic development from this Italian borrowing.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, coillons “testicles”, is in Gervaise's Bestiaire (early 13th century).^[2]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense “testicle” is now dated and popular; the word lives on in the figurative sense it took in the 16th century, “fool, simpleton”, probably under the influence of Italian coglione, used of a dull, foolish man before 1550.^[4][2] Stendhal uses it of a coward in 1813.^[2] In the south of France it is a mild, joking insult, even a friendly form of address.^[4][7] In Belgium the word, also spelled couyon, names a card game.^[4]

Its derivatives couillonnade (1592 as coyonade) and couillonner (1564) competed long with forms in coïon-.^[4][5]

Timeline

• early 13th century – Coillons in Gervaise's Bestiaire.^[2]
• 1560 – Coion “spineless man” in Grévin's Les Esbahis.^[2]
• 1564 – The verb couillonner.^[4]
• 1592 – The spelling coyon in Montluc.^[2]
• 1813 – Stendhal uses it for a coward.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated, vulgar) A testicle.^[2][1]
2. (very familiar) A fool, idiot: faire le couillon “to play the fool”.^[7][2][8]
3. (familiar) A coward.^[2][1]
4. (southern France) A friendly, not insulting form of address.^[7][4]
5. (Belgium) A card game.^[4][1]
6. (Louisiana) A joker, or a simpleton.^[1]

Adjective

1. (very familiar) Stupid.^[7][8][1]

Word family

• couillonnade
• couillonner

Related words

• couille
• Latin coleus

Usage notes

Littré has a separate couillon in Mediterranean sailors' use, a small wad of oakum fastened into a sail to make a button for lashing.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette