goulet

Forms

goulet m (plural goulets)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French goule + -et, the first part being the older form of gueule “mouth, throat”.^[2][3][4][1] gueule is from Latin gula (“throat, gullet”).^[5] Littré compares Occitan golet.^[6] Wiktionary calls it a doublet of gollé.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in a royal ordinance of 1358, pairs it with ruissel for a small stream: le ruissel ou goulet.^[2][6][7] About the same time the Livre du roi Modus uses it for the narrow entrance of a net for catching partridges.^[8][6]

Semantic evolution

The general idea is that of a narrow opening.^[3] The word named the mouth of a river (1506) and the neck of a bottle (1544), the second sense already dated in the 17th century, when Richelet (1680) noted that goulot was usual.^[2][3] In the 16th century it took the sense “narrow passage” (1555, in the diary of the sire de Gouberville), and in 1743 the narrow entrance of a harbour.^[2][3][8]

It also became a technical term: the hole of a bomb into which the fuse is put (1752) and the mouth of a fish trap (1759).^[2][3][6] In the 20th century it is used figuratively in goulet d'étranglement “bottleneck” (1959).^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1358 – First record, “small stream”.^[2][5]
• 1506 – Used for the mouth of a river.^[2][3]
• 1544 – “Neck of a bottle”.^[2][3]
• 1555 – “Narrow passage”, in Gouberville's diary.^[2][8]
• 1743 – The Trévoux dictionary records “narrow entrance to a harbour”.^[2][8]
• 1759 – Fishing sense, the mouth of a fish trap.^[2][3]
• 1959 – Goulet d'étranglement “bottleneck” appears.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A narrow passage or couloir, especially between mountains or rocks.^[2][4][8]
2. A narrow entrance to a port¹ or roadstead: le goulet de Brest.^[4][6]
3. (figurative) Goulet d'étranglement: a bottleneck, something that holds up a process.^[4][1]
4. (fishing) The funnel-shaped mouth of a fish trap or net.^[2][6]
5. (obsolete) The neck of a bottle, now goulot.^[2][4]

Related words

• gueule
• goulot
• goulu
• goulée
• Latin gula

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, 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. ^ 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 f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse