moulin

Pronunciation

• IPA: /mu.lɛ̃/^[1]

Forms

moulin m (plural moulins)^[1] Old French molin (early 12th century), moulin (late 12th century).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French molin, inherited from Late Latin molīnum (“mill”) (6th century),^{[4][5][6][2][1][7]} derived from mola (“millstone”), the source of meule,^{[6][2][3][8][9]} or, as Rey and Wiktionary have it, from the verb molō (“to grind”), the source of moudre.^[5][1] Bloch and Wartburg note that it was coined when the water mill spread.^[6]

Cognate with Italian mulino, Occitan molin, Catalan molí, Spanish molino and Portuguese moinho.^[10][11]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Pèlerinage de Charlemagne (about 1140) has molin for a machine for grinding grain and the building that houses it.^[4][5][3]

Semantic evolution

Old French already distinguished the windmill (molin a vent, about 1195) from the water mill (molin d'awe, 1285).^[4][5] By likeness of function the word named other machines: the paper mill (1381–1382), presses for oil-seeds (1641), silk-throwing machines (1678), the coffee mill (1690) and the vegetable mill (1936); in Quebec a moulin à scie is a sawmill.^[4][5] In slang the moulin was a machine gun (1869) and is the engine of a car (1909).^[4][9]

Phrases include on ne peut être à la fois au four et au moulin (1611), se battre contre des moulins à vent, after Don Quixote (1787), entrer comme dans un moulin (1840) and apporter de l'eau au moulin (1891).^[4][5] Mme de Sévigné called the tongue a moulin (1672), and a chatterbox is a moulin à paroles (1778).^[4] Old windmills gave their names to the Moulin de la Galette and the Moulin Rouge in Paris.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Molin (Pèlerinage de Charlemagne).^[4][5]
• c. 1195 – Molin a vent.^[4][5]
• 1285 – Moulin d'awe, a water mill.^[4]
• 1381–1382 – Molin a papier.^[4][5]
• 1611 – Être ensemble au four et au moulin (Cotgrave).^[4]
• 1690 – Moulin à café (Furetière).^[4][5]
• 1778 – Moulin à paroles (Beaumarchais).^[4]
• 1909 – The engine of a car.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mill for grinding grain; the building that houses it: moulin à vent, windmill^[8][9]; moulin à eau.^[8][9]
2. A small mill: moulin à café, moulin à poivre.^[4][1]
3. (familiar) An engine.^[9][4]
4. Moulin à paroles: a chatterbox.^[4][1]
5. (geology) A moulin, a shaft in a glacier.^[1]

Word family

• moulinette
• moulinet

Related words

• meule
• meunier
• moudre
• Latin molīnum
• English mill

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/3, 37b
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter