patouiller

Forms

patouiller (regular verb of the first group, intransitive and transitive)^[1] Old French patoiller; the form patouiller is recorded from 1572.^[2][3] One manuscript of the earliest text has the variant pantoiller.^[2] A variant patrouiller is recorded from the middle of the 15th century.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from French patte + -ouiller, with an expressive and often pejorative suffix.^[2][3][5] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert derive it from the stem of patte, which also gave patauger.^[6][7] The GLLF compares the suffix with that of barbouiller.^[4]

Littré cites the related dialect forms patoquer and patouger of Hainaut and patoiller of Champagne.^[8] Meyer-Lübke traces that noun to an imitative Romance word *patta (“paw”).^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as patoiller about 1175 in the Chronique des ducs de Normandie, used intransitively in the sense “to splash about, wade”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, splashing through water or mud, is found again about 1213 in the Faits des Romains.^[2][4] In 1572 Amyot used the verb transitively for stirring and troubling water.^[2][3][4]

The sense “to handle, paw at” is recorded in Rigaud's Parisian slang dictionary in 1878;^[2][3] the GLLF dates the sense “to fondle” to 1896 (Delesalle).^[4] Rey considers the verb dated in all its senses.^[3] George Sand used it in 1845 for water that held back a mill wheel, as an expression of the Berry region.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1175 – Patoiller “to splash about” appears in the Chronique des ducs de Normandie.^[2][3]
• c. 1213 – It is used in the Faits des Romains.^[2][4]
• 1480 – The adjective patoulard “wading in a bog” is recorded.^[3]
• 1572 – Amyot uses patouiller transitively, “to stir up (water)”.^[2][3]
• 1757 – The derivative patouillet names an apparatus for washing iron ore.^[2][3]
• 1878 – Rigaud records the sense “to handle, paw at”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive, familiar) To splash or wade through mud or water.^[2][7][1]
2. (transitive, familiar) To handle (tripoter) someone or something roughly or indiscreetly, to paw.^[2][7][10]

Word family

• patouille
• patouillard
• patouillet
• patouillage

Related words

• patte
• patauger
• patrouiller
• tripatouiller
• barbouiller

Usage notes

The Académie française called the verb very familiar in 1932.^[11] Several nouns come from it: patouillet and patouille, machines for washing ore, and patouille, in familiar use, the mud of roads.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Académie française (1932–1935), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 8th ed., Paris: Hachette