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grouiller

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Etymology and origin of the French word grouiller

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1456–1467 Cent Nouvelles nouvelles More words from the 15th century
Inherited from
Old French grouler

Pronunciation

Forms

grouiller[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French grouler (“to move about, shake”), altered under the influence of verbs in ⟨-ouiller⟩ such as fouiller.[2][3][4][5] This Old French verb (about 1280, Bibbesworth) is taken to be a secondary form of crouler (“to shake”) (the modern crouler), as Italian grollare stands beside crollare;[2][3][5] that verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *corrotulō.[6] Rey calls the origin of the Old French verb uncertain and also mentions a link with the Poitou dialect grouée (“crowd, mass”), which might belong with Old Occitan grou (“spawn”).[4] Littré noted Picard and Berry forms and set aside Diez's Old High German etymology.[7]

The sense “growl, rumble” has a separate source: it is an alteration of grouller (“to grumble”), from Middle Dutch grollen (“to rumble, scold”), under the same influence of verbs in ⟨-ouiller⟩.[2][4][8] Wiktionary instead derives the whole verb from the Middle Dutch word.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record, in the Cent Nouvelles nouvelles (1456–1467), has the sense “to growl, grumble”.[2] The main sense appears in 1480 in the Baratre infernal, in grouillant de serpens “swarming with snakes”;[2][3][9] Bloch and Wartburg and the Petit Robert date the word to about 1460.[2][3][9]

Semantic evolution

From “to swarm with” (1480) the verb came to mean, of many people or animals, “to move about in all directions” (1549) and “to move, stir” (1625).[2][4] These senses are now regional, kept especially in Canada with the reflexive se grouiller “to get moving”, without the idea of speed.[4] In familiar French of France grouiller and se grouiller mean “to hurry” (1645, reflexive).[2][4] Bloch and Wartburg date se grouiller “to hurry” in popular French to 1797, followed later by se dégrouiller.[3]

The Académie recorded in 1718 the sense of the bowels making a dull, rumbling noise.[2][4] Molière used la tête lui grouille of a head trembling with age (1670).[5]

Timeline

  • 1456–1467 – The Cent Nouvelles nouvelles use it for “to grumble”.[2]
  • 1480 – Grouillant de serpens “swarming with snakes” appears.[2][4]
  • 1540 – The adjective grouillant is recorded.[4]
  • 1549 – Marguerite de Navarre uses it of creatures moving about.[2][7]
  • 1625 – Stoer's dictionary gives “to move, stir”.[2][5]
  • 1645 – Cyrano de Bergerac uses se grouiller “to hurry”.[2][4]
  • 1718 – The Académie records it of rumbling bowels.[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To swarm, to move about in a confused mass (of many creatures or people).[9][1][10]
  2. Grouiller de: to be full of, teem with (moving creatures).[9][2]
  3. (dated or regional) To move, stir.[9][5]
  4. (reflexive, familiar) Se grouiller: to hurry, get a move on.[9][1][4]
  5. (dated) Of the bowels, to rumble.[4][2]

Word family

  • grouillant
  • grouillement
  • dégrouiller
  • crouler

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 o p q 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1231b
  7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 61a
  9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Grouiller.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/grouiller. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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