pèlerin

Forms

pèlerin m (plural pèlerins, feminine pèlerine)^[1] Old French pelerin, also peregrin.^[2][3] The feminine pèlerine is recorded from the late 12th century.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin pelegrīnus (“foreigner, traveller”), a form of the inscriptions that arose by dissimilation from Classical peregrīnus (“travelling abroad, coming from abroad, foreign”).^[2][4][5] The Latin word is derived from the adverb peregrē (“abroad, from abroad”), formed with ager (“field, country, territory”); the first element is debated: Meillet saw in it an Indo-European adjective meaning “distant”, while others take it as the preposition per (“through”), a view Rey finds less satisfying for the sense.^[4][6] In Christian Latin the word came to mean a pilgrim, after the biblical image of the believer as a stranger and wayfarer on earth.^[2][5]

Cognate with Old Occitan pelegrin, Italian pellegrino and Spanish peregrino.^[7] German Pilger and English pilgrim come from the same Latin form.^[5][3] The learned pérégrin is its doublet.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Vie de saint Alexis (about 1050), meaning “stranger”: Suz mun degret gist uns morz pelerins “under my stairs lies a dead stranger”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

The sense “stranger” was soon applied to man as a passing guest on this earth, as in the psalms.^[2][4] From the Chanson de Roland (1080) it meant a person travelling to a holy place out of piety, and by metaphor the Christian making his way through life towards the heavenly city (about 1225).^[2][4][8] In the 12th and 13th centuries it was also applied to the crusaders.^[4][2]

Since a holy place was so often the goal of a medieval journey, the word came to mean any traveller (about 1213).^[4] Because traders and bandits mixed with the pilgrims it took on a pejorative sense, “rogue”, weakened to “fellow, individual”;^[4] Middle French had savoir bien qui est bon pèlerin “to tell the good from the bad” (about 1460).^[4] It could also name a beggar or a good companion (late 14th century).^[4][2]

Brunetto Latini (about 1265) calls a falcon pelerin because no one finds its nest and it is caught as if on pilgrimage;^[2][4] faucon pèlerin follows in the mid-14th century, and the name was later given to a giant shark.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1050 – Pelerins “stranger” appears in the Vie de saint Alexis.^[2]
• 1080 – The Chanson de Roland uses it for pilgrims on the road to Compostela.^[2][8]
• c. 1135 – The derivative pèlerinage is recorded.^[4]
• c. 1200 – English has pilegrim, from the Old French word.^[3]
• c. 1213 – Li Fet des Romains uses it for a traveller.^[2][4]
• 1st third of the 13th century – Used for a crusader.^[2]
• c. 1265 – Brunetto Latini's Trésor names a falcon pelerins.^[2]
• c. 1460 – Savoir bien qui est bon pèlerin is recorded.^[4]
• 1813 – Pèlerine names a short cape.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A pilgrim, a person who travels to a holy place for religious reasons: les pèlerins de Saint-Jacques-de-Compostelle.^[9][2]
2. Prendre son bâton de pèlerin: to set out on a pilgrimage;^[9] (figurative) to travel about defending an idea or a project.^[9]
3. (dated) A traveller.^[9][7]
4. The peregrine falcon, also faucon pèlerin.^[9]
5. The basking shark, also requin pèlerin.^[9]
6. (familiar, dated) A fellow, an individual.^[7][4]

Word family

• pèlerinage
• pèlerine

Related words

• pérégrin
• pérégrination
• Latin peregrinus
• English pilgrim

Usage notes

The feminine pèlerine is little used for a woman pilgrim, because of its homonym pèlerine “cape”.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert