pelote

Forms

pelote f (plural pelotes)^[1] Old French pelute (1121–1134), then pelote (about 1140).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pelote, inherited from Vulgar Latin *pilotta, a diminutive of Latin pila (“ball”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} Rey adds that folk etymology connected the Latin noun with pilus (“hair”), since balls were stuffed with horsehair.^[3]

Cognate with Catalan pilota, Occitan pelota and Spanish pelota.^[3][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Philippe de Thaon's Bestiaire (1121–1134) has pelute for a round object, a ball; about 1140 the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne uses pelote for a ball of metal.^[2][3][8]

Semantic evolution

Old French used the word for any round object, especially a hard one such as a cannonball (1375), and for a snowball, and figuratively for a crowd of people (late 13th century), a sense now left to peloton.^[2][3] From 1165 it named a ball to play with, especially in the game of paume, and by metonymy the ball game itself; this survives in pelote basque (1897).^[3]

The ball of wound thread is recorded from 1270–1300 and is the usual sense today, behind the phrase avoir les nerfs en pelote.^[3][8][9] A pincushion was called pelote from 1588.^[2][3] Fishermen near Paris used it for a ball of earth and worms thrown to the fish (1680, Richelet), and zoology for the round pads of an animal's foot (1805, Cuvier).^[2][3] Faire sa pelote, to amass money little by little, is recorded from 1803, whence the familiar sense “nest egg” (1847, Balzac).^[3]

Timeline

• 1121–1134 – Philippe de Thaon writes pelute.^[2]
• c. 1140 – Pelote appears in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[2][8]
• 1165 – A ball to play with, and the ball game.^[3]
• late 13th century – A crowd of people.^[2][3]
• 1270–1300 – A ball of wound thread.^[3]
• 1375 – A cannonball.^[2][3]
• 1588 – A pincushion.^[2][3]
• 1680 – Richelet records the anglers' pelote.^[2][3]
• 1803 – Faire sa pelote is recorded.^[3]
• 1805 – Cuvier uses it for the pad of an animal's foot.^[3]
• 1897 – Pelote basque is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A ball of thread, string or wool wound round itself: une pelote de coton.^[9][2]
2. Avoir les nerfs en pelote: to be very irritated or on edge.^[9][8]
3. Faire sa pelote: to build up a fortune bit by bit.^[9][3]
4. A pincushion.^[9][7]
5. A ball used in games;^[3][1] pelote basque, the Basque ball game pelota.^[3][1]
6. (zoology) A rounded pad on an animal's foot.^[3]

Word family

• peloter
• peloton

Related words

• Latin pila

Usage notes

A second pelote, from 20th-century military slang, is an abbreviation of peloton in the sense of the punishment squad: faire la pelote (1894) meant to serve that punishment, and envoyer aux pelotes (1890; figuratively 1896, Alphonse Allais) means to send someone packing.^[3][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 m n o p q r s t u v w x y Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 480a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert