Etymologically
Log in

hurler

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 10:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /yʁ.le/[1]

Forms

hurler[1] Old French uller, usler (about 1160–75), huller, urler (1501), hurler (Palsgrave, 1530); Féraud (1768) still gives heurler as a variant.[2][3][4] The ⟨h⟩ is aspirated: je hurle, le hurlement.[4][5]

Etymology

It continues inherited from Late Latin ūrulāre (“to howl”),[4][3][6][7] a dissimilated form of classical ululō (“to howl; to wail”), itself of onomatopoeic origin.[4][3][5] The TLFi suggests that the stressed vowel was changed to /u/ to keep the imitative character of the word.[4] The classical form gave Old French uller and usler (with a purely graphic ⟨s⟩); the ⟨h⟩ is expressive,[4][3][6] or comes from huer according to Bloch and Wartburg, or from Frankish *hūwilōn, compare English howl, according to Wiktionary.[8][1] The learned hululer is its doublet.[1]

Cognate with Romanian urla, Italian urlare, Occitan orlar, Spanish aullar and Portuguese urrar.[5][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Eustache Deschamps's Miroir de mariage (about 1385) has the phrase Il faut hurler avec les leux “one must howl with the wolves”.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The verb keeps the Latin sense “to utter prolonged cries”, of animals and people, hurler avec les loups means “to do as those around one do”.[3][5] From the mid-16th century it is transitive, “to shout very loudly”, and, from the mid-17th century intransitive for speaking or singing at the top of one's voice.[3] Sacy (1672) uses it of the storm, and in modern French a siren or the wind can hurler.[3][10] From 1778 (Voltaire) it is said of things so ill-matched that they clash, à hurler means “outrageous”, and hurler de rire “to roar with laughter” is recent.[3][2]

Timeline

  • c. 1160–75 – Uller, usler, Benoît de Sainte-Maure.[2][4]
  • c. 1385 – Hurler avec les leux, Eustache Deschamps.[4]
  • 1501 – Urler.[2]
  • 1530 – Hurler, Palsgrave.[2]
  • Mid-16th century – Transitive “to shout”.[3]
  • 1672 – Of the storm, Sacy.[10]
  • 1778 – Of clashing things, Voltaire.[3]

Meanings

Verb

  1. Of an animal, to howl: chien qui hurle à la mort, hurler avec les loups, to follow the crowd.[5][1]
  2. Of a person, to scream, yell: hurler de douleur, hurler de rire, to roar with laughter.[5][3]
  3. To shout, bawl (words, a song).[3][1]
  4. Of the wind, a siren, to howl, wail.[3][10]
  5. Of colours or things that are ill-matched, to clash, jar.[3][2]

Word family

  • hurlement
  • hurleur
  • hurlant
  • hululer
  • hulotte
  • huer

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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
  5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 14a
  8. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF