déshabiller

Forms

déshabiller^[1] Middle French desabiller.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is formed from French dé- + habiller.^[2][3][4][1] Habiller is from Old French abiller (“to prepare”); its spelling with ⟨h⟩, from the 15th century, is probably due to association with the unrelated habit.^[1] Bloch and Wartburg derive the Old French verb from bille² “log”, which they trace to Gaulish *bilia (“tree trunk”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first found in the 15th century as the reflexive soi desabiller “to undress”, in a manuscript of Renaut de Montauban; the past participle desabilliée “undressed” follows in the second half of the century.^[2][6] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date it to the end of the 14th century.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the verb meant to take someone's clothes off, and the reflexive se déshabiller became, like s'habiller, an everyday word, while se dévêtir is literary.^[6] The proverb déshabiller saint Pierre pour habiller saint Paul, to solve one difficulty by creating another, is given by Littré.^[7][4]

Figurative uses followed: to lay bare someone's intentions (recorded by Littré, 1864), and of a garment, to show off parts of the body (1870).^[8][7] The past participle became the noun déshabillé “woman's indoor gown” in 1608, and the verb has given déshabillage (1804), both often with erotic overtones.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1400s – Soi desabiller is recorded in Renaut de Montauban.^[2]
• 2nd half of the 15th century – Desabilliée in the Sept Sages.^[2]
• 1608 – The noun un deshabillé.^[2][6]
• 1804 – Déshabillage is recorded.^[6]
• 1864 – Littré gives the figurative sense “to expose (someone's intentions)”.^[8]
• 1870 – Larousse records it of clothes that reveal the body.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To undress someone, take off their clothes, as in Elle a déshabillé les jumeaux avant le bain.^[4][2][1]
2. (reflexive) Se déshabiller: to get undressed, as in Il s'est déshabillé dans le noir.^[1][7]
3. Déshabiller quelqu'un du regard: to look someone over insistently, as if undressing them.^[4]
4. (figurative) To lay bare, expose someone's intentions or a thing's real nature.^[4][7]
5. To strip something of its covering or ornaments: déshabiller un fauteuil.^[8]
6. Déshabiller saint Pierre pour habiller saint Paul: to pay one debt by running up another, to shift a problem instead of solving it.^[4][7]

Word family

• déshabillé
• déshabillage

Related words

• habiller
• rhabiller
• dévêtir
• habit
• bille²

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse