maille

maille¹ stitch, mesh

Etymology tree of maille¹

inherited borrowed derived

Latin macula

French maille

Italian macchia

From the same root · maille¹

Latin maculō ← macula

Latin maculōsus ← macula

Italian macchioso ← macchia

Pronunciation

• /maj/^[2]
• /mɑj/^[2]

Forms

maille f (plural mailles)^[2] Old French maile.^[3][4]

Etymology

The word for the stitch is inherited from Old French maille, inherited from Latin macula (“spot; mesh of a net”), through the Vulgar Latin form *macla.^{[3][5][1][2][6]} The Latin noun first meant “spot” and came to mean “mesh of a net”, because the pattern of the meshes recalls the spots on some animals' coats.^[5][7] The learned borrowing macule is its doublet.^[2]

Cognate with Old Occitan malha, Spanish malla, Catalan malla and Portuguese malha;^[4][8][9] Italian maglia came from Occitan.^[9] English mail “armour of linked rings” (about 1300) was taken from Old French.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Rashi's glosses (late 11th century) have it for a leucoma in the eye and for a link of a cuirass,^[3] and the Chanson de Roland speaks of a hauberk dunt la maile est menue “whose mail is fine”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “spot”, rare in Old French, survived only in a few technical uses: the leucoma of the eye, the speckle on a hawk's plumage (Anglo-Norman lapidaries, late 12th or early 13th century) and, in botany, the eye from which melons and cucumbers fruit (1704).^[3][5] It was displaced by the sense “loop”, first of armour, whence cotte de mailles, then of fabric, from Béroul's Tristan (late 12th century); it is now the usual word for the stitches of knitting and stockings.^[3][5]

By metonymy it named the gap between the threads of a net (1216: Que l'anguille passast la maille), the opening left in an iron trellis (Furetière, 1690) and the eyes of a loom's heddles (1765).^[3][5] The TLFi records it for a link of a chain in 1410,^[3] while Rey dates this technical use to 1867, in competition with maillon (1542).^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1080 – The Chanson de Roland uses it of a hauberk's mail.^[1][5]
• late 11th century – Rashi glosses it as a speck in the eye and a link of a cuirass.^[3]
• late 12th century – Béroul's Tristan uses it for a loop of fabric.^[3]
• 1216 – It names the hole of a net, in Fergus.^[3]
• c. 1300 – English borrows it as mail.^[7]
• 1410 – It is used for a link of a chain.^[3]
• 1542 – The derivative maillon appears.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière records an opening in an iron trellis.^[3]
• 1704 – The Trévoux dictionary uses it in botany.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Each of the loops of thread that interlock to form a knitted or netted fabric, a stitch: maille à l'endroit, maille à l'envers.^[3][5][2]
2. The mesh, the gap between the threads of a net or fabric, or between the wires of a trellis: passer entre les mailles du filet.^[3][2]
3. A ring of chain mail: une cotte de mailles.^[5][2]
4. A link of a chain.^[3][5]
5. (technical) A spot: a speckle on a bird's plumage, a leucoma of the eye.^[3][5]
6. (graph theory) The girth of a graph.^[2]

Word family

• maillon
• maillure
• mailler
• maillage
• démailler
• remmailler
• maillot

maille² old coin

Etymology tree of maille²

inherited borrowed derived

Latin medius

Italian mezzo

Romanian miez

Spanish medio

Italian medio

Romanian mediu

Latin mediālis

English medial

Latin medālia

French maille

Spanish meaja

From the same root · maille²

English intermediary ← medius

Italian mezzogiorno ← medius

Latin dīmidius ← medius

Latin intermedius ← medius

Latin mediānus ← medius

Latin medietās ← medius

Latin mediō ← medius

Latin mediocris ← medius

Latin mediterrāneus ← medius

Latin meditullium ← medius

Latin medium ← medius

Latin merīdiēs ← medius

Spanish mitad ← medius

Italian mezzanotte ← mezzo

Italian mezzodì ← mezzo

Romanian primez ← miez

Spanish mediodía ← medio

Italian media ← medio

Pronunciation

• /maj/^[2]
• /mɑj/^[2]

Forms

maille f (plural mailles)^[2] Old French meaille and maaille.^[1][10]

Etymology

The word for the coin is inherited from Old French meaille, inherited from Medieval Latin medalia (“half a denier”) (9th century), a dissimilated form of *mediālia, the neuter plural of mediālis (“in the middle”) taken as a feminine singular, from medius (“middle, half”).^{[5][11][1][2][12]} The Grand Robert rejects a derivation from metallia (monēta), which the Spanish, Portuguese and Old Occitan forms contradict.^[1] Its doublet is médaille, which came through Italian.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaimar uses it about 1138 for a coin worth half a denier;^[11] the Anglo-Norman Dictionary has it from about 1136–1137, meaning “halfpenny”.^[10]

Semantic evolution

The word named a coin of very small value used under the Capetians;^[5] by the 17th century it was only a money of account.^[11] It entered two figurative phrases.^[5] N'avoir denier ni maille (about 1190) became n'avoir ni sou ni maille “to be penniless” (before 1778, Voltaire), now nearly gone.^[11][5] Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un (Molière, 1655; first à départir, 1616) is still usual for “to have a quarrel with someone”, though neither maille nor partir “to share” is now understood in it.^[11][5]

Timeline

• c. 1138 – Gaimar uses it for a half-denier.^[11]
• c. 1190 – Garnier de Pont-Sainte-Maxence writes n'avoir denier ni maille.^[11]
• 1616 – Avoir maille à départir is recorded.^[11][5]
• 1655 – Molière writes avoir maille à partir.^[11]
• before 1778 – Voltaire uses n'avoir ni sou ni maille.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. (historical) A small old coin worth half a denier, later only a money of account.^[11][2]
2. Avoir maille à partir avec quelqu'un: to have a quarrel or dispute with someone: Il a eu maille à partir avec la police.^[5][11]
3. N'avoir ni sou ni maille (dated): to be penniless.^[11][5]