Etymologically
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fusil

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /fy.zi/[1]

Forms

fusil m (plural fusils)[1] Judeo-French foisil (before 1105), Old French focil (1174–1178), fuisil (12th century); fusil from about 1244.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French foisil, inherited from Vulgar Latin *focīlis (“producing fire”), probably short for a phrase meaning “fire stone”, from Latin focus (“hearth, fire”);[2][3][5][1][6] Isidore has a similar phrase with focāris for flint.[2] The form fuisil, the source of the modern word, is an irregular development.[2][7]

Compare Italian fucile.[1][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rashi's glosses (before 1105) have foisil, the piece of steel struck against a flint to make sparks.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

By analogy it named the steel rod used to sharpen knives (13th century), the fusil de boucher.[2][3][7] In the old firearms it was the steel plate struck by the flint (about 1630), and by metonymy the firearm itself, recorded by Pomey in 1671; the weapon is said to have been invented in France in 1630 and to have replaced the musket in 1671.[2][3][7] It then took over from other terms for the long-barrelled individual firearm.[3]

It also means a marksman (1888).[3] Changer son fusil d'épaule “to change one's mind or plans” is in Verlaine (1894), and coup de fusil has been an exorbitant bill since 1887.[3][4] In slang the hollow barrel gave “throat, stomach”: Gavroche says colle-toi ça dans le fusil in Les Misérables (1862).[3][9] The derivatives fusilier (1589), fusiller (1732) and fusillade (1790) followed the weapon.[7]

Timeline

  • Before 1105 – Foisil in Rashi's glosses.[2]
  • c. 1244 – The form fusil.[3]
  • 13th century – A sharpening steel.[2]
  • 1589 – Fusilier.[7]
  • c. 1630 – The steel of a flintlock.[3]
  • 1671 – A firearm (Pomey).[2]
  • 1732 – Fusiller.[7]
  • 1862 – Slang “stomach”, in Hugo.[3]
  • 1887 – Coup de fusil “exorbitant bill”.[3]
  • 1894 – Changer son fusil d'épaule.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A gun, rifle: fusil de chasse, a shotgun, fusil d'assaut, an assault rifle.[10][1]
  2. A marksman: un bon fusil.[3][4]
  3. A sharpening steel for knives.[10][3]
  4. (historical) The steel struck against a flint to make sparks, pierre à fusil, a flint.[10][1]
  5. Changer son fusil d'épaule: to change one's plans or opinions, coup de fusil: an exorbitant bill, en chien de fusil: curled up.[3][1]
  6. (slang, dated) The stomach.[9][3]

Word family

  • fusil-mitrailleur
  • fusilier
  • fusillade
  • fusiller

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 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 650a
  7. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert