filleul

Forms

filleul m (plural filleuls, feminine filleule)^[1] Old French filiol, filluel, fillol;^[2][3][1] filleul is a 13th-century remaking.^[2][3][1] Feminine filleule.^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French filiol, inherited from Latin fīliolus (“little son, dear son”).^[3][4][2] The Latin noun is an affectionate diminutive of fīlius (“son”) (see fils); in Late Latin, and chiefly in Gaul, it took the sense “person held at the font at baptism”, so that the French word and its feminine answer to parrain and marraine.^[5][2][6] Wiktionary compares glaïeul and tilleul for the ending.^[1]

Old Occitan filhol has the same sense, while Italian figliuolo and Spanish hijuelo are still diminutives of the words for “son”.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1121 the Voyage de saint Brendan has filiol for a person held at the font, seen in relation to the godparent.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word has kept the Late Latin baptismal sense; the classical sense “little son”, found in the 16th century, did not last.^[2][3] By extension it is used of anyone under the protection of a person or body, and filleul de guerre is a soldier to whom a woman, his marraine de guerre, sends letters and parcels.^[3][6][8] More recently it also names a child whom a person or family supports from afar.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 1121 – Filiol appears in the Voyage de saint Brendan.^[3]
• 12th century – The form filluel is found.^[2][9]
• 13th century – Filleul appears, in the Chronique de Reims.^[2][6]
• 16th century – It is used in the Latin sense “little son”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A godson, feminine filleule a goddaughter: a person held at the font, seen in relation to the parrain or marraine.^[8][3]
2. Filleul de guerre: a soldier whom a woman has taken under her care in wartime, sending him letters and parcels.^[8][6]
3. A child whom a person or family helps materially and morally, often abroad: elle a un filleul au Pérou.^[8]
4. (by extension) A protégé of a person or body.^[3]

Related words

• fils
• fille
• Latin fīliolus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 519b
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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert