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paupière

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Etymology and origin of the French word paupière

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
1100–1150 Oxford Psalter More words from the 11th century
Inherited from
Latin palpetra via Old French
Ultimate origin
Latin palpetra

Pronunciation

Forms

paupière f (plural paupières)[1] Old French palpere (first half of the 12th century) and paupiere (early 13th century).[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French palpere, inherited from Latin palpetra (“eyelid”), a popular variant of palpebra.[2][5][3][6][1] Bloch and Wartburg note that the variant is found in Varro, beside the classical form.[6] Rey explains it as a popular form that avoided a run of labial sounds: the ending -bra is common in Latin names of instruments, while -tra is exceptional.[3] He connects the Latin word with the group of palpō (“to touch gently, to stroke”) (see palper), which expresses repeated movement;[3][7] Littré also derived it from that verb.[3][7]

Compare Walloon pâpi and Norman paupille (“eyelash”).[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Oxford Psalter (first half of the 12th century) has palpere for the eyelid.[2][4] Littré quotes a 13th-century psalter: Se je aurai doné à mes pauperres dormir (“If I shall have given sleep to my eyelids”).[7]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed an anatomical term for people and animals and entered phrases about death and sleep: clore les paupières à a dying person (1579, Garnier) and fermer les paupières (1601, Montchrestien), used also for “to sleep” from 1620 (Malherbe) and 1660 (Boileau, fermer la paupière), beside fermer les yeux.[2][3] In poetry the word has stood for the eye itself (1869, Lamartine).[4] The learned adjective palpébral was taken from the Latin.[3]

Timeline

  • 1100–1150 – Palpere appears in the Oxford Psalter.[2]
  • early 13th century – The form paupiere is found in the Reclus de Molliens.[2]
  • 1579 – Garnier writes of closing a dying man's eyelids.[2]
  • 1620 – Malherbe uses clore les paupières for sleeping.[2]
  • 1660 – Boileau writes fermer la paupière.[2]
  • 1869 – Lamartine uses it poetically for the eye.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An eyelid: battre des paupières, to blink.[8][2][1]
  2. Paupière interne: the third eyelid of birds, the nictitating membrane.[7]
  3. (literary) Fermer la paupière: to sleep;[7][2][3] fermer les paupières à quelqu'un, to close the eyes of a dying person.[7][2][3]
  4. (poetic) The eye, the look.[4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 519a
  6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Paupière.” Etymologically, 11 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/paupi%C3%A8re. Accessed 11 Nov. 2026.

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