Etymologically
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moulin

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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
  • 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