palis

Forms

palis m (plural palis)^[1] Old French paliz.^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman spellings include paleis.^[5] Littré quotes paleys from the 13th century and paulis from the 16th.^[6]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French pel + -is, the old form of pieu, which is from Latin pālus (“stake”).^[2][7][8][9] The ⟨a⟩ of the derivative alternates regularly with the ⟨e⟩ of the base, since it stands in an unstressed syllable.^[2][8][7] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert derive it from pal, which they give as an old form of the same word.^[3][1]

Medieval Latin palicium (“palisade”) is found in Normandy in 1091.^[2] Littré compares Old Occitan paliza.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Brut (1155) has it for a palisade, a set of stakes driven into the ground as a defence.^[2][7] The Grand Larousse dates the first record, spelled paliz, to the late 11th century, in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[10]

Semantic evolution

From the defence the word passed to the enclosure it surrounded (1174–1187, Chrétien de Troyes' Perceval) and, by metonymy, to each of its stakes (late 12th century, Raoul de Cambrai).^[2][7] Littré quotes Raoul de Cambrai on a town Clos à palis “enclosed with stakes”, and Froissart on a town fenced only de palis.^[6] The DMF records it in Middle French for a stake used in a fence.^[11]

Its derivative palissade (1600) became the usual word for the fence, while palis stayed more technical.^[7] Later uses include a fence of laths or poles bound together and, in fishing, a net stretched on stakes.^[6][10]

Timeline

• 1091 – Medieval Latin palicium “palisade” is found in Normandy.^[2]
• 1155 – Wace's Brut uses it for a defensive palisade.^[2][7]
• 1174–1187 – Chrétien de Troyes uses it for the enclosure itself.^[2][7]
• Late 12th century – In Raoul de Cambrai it names each of the stakes.^[2][10]
• 1600 – The derivative palissade is recorded.^[7]
• 1762 – The Académie records the sense “space enclosed by a palis”.^[10]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie records a further technical sense.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small pointed stake driven into the ground in a row with others to make a fence.^[1][12][2]
2. A fence made of such stakes, a palissade.^[1][2][13]
3. (dated) The space enclosed by such a fence.^[1][13][10]
4. (fishing) A net stretched on stakes.^[6]

Word family

• palissade
• palisser

Related words

• pieu
• pal
• Latin pālus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 7:109
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 525a
10. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)