peler

Forms

peler^[1] Old French and Anglo-Norman also peiler, poiler, piler.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French peler, inherited from Late Latin pilō (“to pluck out hair, depilate”), from pilus (“hair”).^{[3][4][5][6][7]} The sense “to take off the skin” comes from a secondary association with Old French pel (“skin”) (modern peau).^[3][4][6][8] Littré derived this sense separately from pellis (“skin”);^[9] Bloch and Wartburg see no need for such a split.^[5]

Cognate with Italian pelare, Spanish pelar, Portuguese pelar, Catalan pelar and Occitan pelar.^[10][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) it means “to pluck out the hair” of a person: Ganelon's captors li peilent la barbe e les gernuns, they pull out his beard and moustache.^[3][4] The same poem already has verge pelee “peeled rod”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The first sense survived in leather-dressing, peler le cuir “to strip a hide of its hair” (1197), and the old intransitive use “to go bald” (about 1260) left the phrase trois pelés et un tondu “a handful of people”, recorded as trois tondus et un pelé in 1690 and preceded by Rabelais's troys teigneux et ung pelé (1532).^[3][4]

Through the link with pel, it meant from the start “to take the skin off”, above all a fruit or vegetable;^[3][4] Old French expressed a trifle by ne valoir un œuf pelé (about 1215) or deux aus pelés.^[3][4] From 1197 it was used figuratively for “to rob, fleece”, especially at gambling, whence se peler “to lose everything” (before 1250).^[3][4] The intransitive sense “to shed skin in flakes” dates from 1260.^[8]

Familiar French uses it of the cold: froid qui pèle (1918) and peler “to be very cold” (1970), especially in peler de froid.^[3][4] In Belgium it also means “to pester”.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – In the Chanson de Roland, of pulling out Ganelon's beard.^[3][4]
• c. 1180 – Deux aus pelés, a peeled garlic, as a thing of no value.^[3]
• 1197 – Hélinant uses it for “to strip of hair” and figuratively for “to rob”.^[3][4]
• c. 1260 – Intransitive “to go bald”.^[3][4]
• 1532 – Rabelais has troys teigneux et ung pelé.^[3][4]
• 1690 – Furetière records trois tondus et un pelé.^[3][4]
• 1918 – Froid qui pèle “biting cold”.^[3][4]
• 1970 – Intransitive “to be very cold”.^[3][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To peel, to take the skin off (a fruit or vegetable): peler des oignons.^[8][3][9]
2. (transitive, technical) To strip (a hide) of its hair, (a tree) of its bark.^[8][11][9]
3. (intransitive) To lose skin in small flakes, after sunburn for example.^[8][3]
4. (intransitive, familiar) To be very cold: peler de froid.^[8][4]
5. (slang, dated) To take all of an opponent's stake at cards.^[11]

Word family

• pelé
• pelure
• pelade
• pelard
• peleur

Related words

• peau
• poil
• Latin pilus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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
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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 483a
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse