Etymologically
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feuille

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Pronunciation

Forms

feuille f (plural feuilles)[1] Old French fueille, foille (about 1130); feuille from 1273 (Adenet).[2][3] Old French also had the masculine fueil, foil.[4][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French fueille, inherited from Late Latin folia, the neuter plural of Latin folium (“leaf; sheet of paper”), taken as a feminine singular.[5][2][4][6][7] The collective plural is explained by its sense “foliage of a tree”; the singular “folium” gave Old French “fueil”.[4] Whether “folium” is related to Ancient Greek φύλλον (phúllon, “leaf”) is debated.[2][8]

Cognate with Romanian foaie, Italian foglia, Spanish hoja and Portuguese folha.[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Cambridge Psalter (first half of the 12th century) uses it for the leaf of a plant.[5]

Semantic evolution

About 1200 it meant a thin flat sheet of matter (of gold), and in the 13th century a sheet of paper.[5] Feuille morte is from the 13th century, and trembler comme une feuille is recorded in Retz (before 1679).[2][3][10] Feuilles volantes “pamphlets” is in Voltaire (1751), and feuille “newspaper” in the Moniteur (1789), with feuille de chou “rag” (1858).[5] Slang made feuilles de chou the ears (Delvau, 1867), whence être dur de la feuille “to be hard of hearing”.[5][1]

In New Caledonia les feuilles are medicinal plants with magic power.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 1130 – Fueille, foille.[2][6]
  • first half of the 12th century – A plant's leaf, Cambridge Psalter.[5]
  • c. 1200 – A thin sheet (of gold).[5]
  • 13th century – A sheet of paper.[5]
  • 1789 – A newspaper, Moniteur.[5]
  • 1858 – Feuille de chou “rag”.[5]
  • 1867 – Feuilles de chou “ears”, Delvau.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A leaf (of a plant): feuilles mortes, trembler comme une feuille.[8][1]
  2. A sheet (of paper, of metal): une feuille blanche, feuille d'or.[1][5]
  3. A document, form: feuille de paie, payslip, feuille de route, travel orders; roadmap.[1][8]
  4. A newspaper, feuille de chou, a rag.[5][1]
  5. (familiar) Ear: être dur de la feuille, to be hard of hearing.[1][5]

Word family

  • feuillage
  • feuillée
  • feuillet
  • feuilleter
  • feuilleté
  • feuilleton
  • feuillu
  • effeuiller
  • mille-feuille
  • portefeuille
  • chèvrefeuille

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
  6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 677b
  8. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF