feuillure

Forms

feuillure f (plural feuillures)^[1] Middle French feuilleure (1334) and fueilleure.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French feuiller + -ure, from the technical verb meaning “to cut a rabbet in”.^[2][5][6] Rey, the Grand Robert and the GLLF take this verb, first recorded as fueller in 1357, to be a variant of fouiller “to dig”, from Vulgar Latin *fodiculō, a derivative of fodiō (“to dig”), so that it has a separate source from its homonym meaning “to come into leaf”.^[4][6][7][8] The FEW, as the DMF cites it, likewise places the noun under this etymon.^[3][9] Bloch and Wartburg instead derive the verb from feuille “leaf”, the notch being compared to a leaf, as in German Verblattung (“rabbet”) from Blatt (“leaf”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, of 1334 in a Paris archive quoted by Godefroy, speaks of la feuilleure du batant de l'huisserie, the rabbet of a door leaf in its frame.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept its joinery sense: a groove or notch cut along a panel or frame to take another piece, and especially the right-angled recess in the jambs and lintel of a door or window into which the frame fits.^[2][10] Littré adds a nautical sense, the recess round a gunport against which the port lid closes.^[11] In Middle French fueilleure also meant the lining of a fabric (1403).^[3]

Timeline

• 1334 – Feuilleure is recorded for the rabbet of a door leaf.^[2][4]
• 1357 – The verb feuiller “to rabbet” is first found, as fueller.^[6][4]
• 1403 – Fueilleure is used for the lining of banners.^[3]
• 1468 – Feuillure “foliage”, a word formed on feuille, is recorded.^[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (carpentry) A rabbet or groove cut along a panel or frame to receive another piece: un panneau assemblé à feuillure.^[2][10][8]
2. (architecture) The right-angled rebate in the jambs and lintel of a door or window opening, against which the frame fits.^[2][10][11]
3. (nautical) The recessed edge round a gunport, where its lid rests when shut.^[11]

Related words

• feuiller
• fouiller
• Latin fodiō

Usage notes

A rare literary feuillure “foliage”, formed on feuille and recorded from 1468, is a separate word; the GLLF quotes it from Daudet, and Littré from d'Aubigné.^[6][7][11]

References

1. ^ a b 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 d e Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b 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. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 668a
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette