pieu

Forms

pieu m (plural pieux)^[1] Old French oblique singular pel, oblique plural pels, later peus, pex, pius and pieux.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pel, inherited from Latin pālus (“stake, post”).^{[2][3][4][1][5]} The modern form grew from the oblique plural pels (about 1140), which became peus (about 1165), pius (early 13th century) and pieux (1287): stakes were mostly used in numbers, so the plural was the commoner form, and it ousted the old subject case.^[2][3] The Grand Robert calls the modern word a Picard form of that plural;^[6] Bloch and Wartburg derive it from pieus, the nominative,^[4] and Wiktionary calls it a back-formation from the plural forms, such as pex.^[1] The Latin word was later borrowed as pal, its doublet.^[3][1] Wiktionary traces the Latin noun to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ-.^[1]

Cognate with Italian palo, Spanish palo, Old Occitan pal and Catalan pal.^[4][7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Geffrei Gaimar's Histoire des Anglais (about 1140) has the singular pel and the plural pels, meaning a pointed stake.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word names a rigid piece of wood with one pointed end, made to be driven into the ground.^[3][2] By analogy it names a piece of wood, metal or concrete driven in for foundations (pieu de fondation).^[3][9] The comparison droit comme un pieu (1825) is less common than raide comme un piquet.^[3][2] In hunting it was a stout iron-shod staff used to kill boars in an enclosure.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Gaimar has pel and the plural pels.^[2]
• c. 1165 – The plural peus appears in the Roman de Troie.^[2]
• 1176–1180 – Chrétien de Troyes writes pex.^[2]
• early 13th century – The form pius is found.^[2]
• 1287 – Pieux is recorded in Champagne.^[2]
• 1825 – Delécluze uses droit comme un pieu.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A stake, a straight, rigid piece of wood with a pointed end for driving into the ground: une clôture de pieux.^[9][2][1]
2. Pieu de fondation: a long pile of metal or reinforced concrete driven or cast into the ground to carry a building.^[9][3]
3. (hunting, dated) A heavy iron-tipped staff for killing boars in an enclosure.^[7]

Related words

• pal
• palis
• palissade
• Latin pālus

Usage notes

Pieu “bed” in popular speech (aller au pieu) is another word.^[9][2] The Grand Robert dates it to the late 18th century and takes it from piau (1628), a Picard form of peau “skin” (1596 in this sense), a bed made of skins;^[6][9] Rey also finds it in songs in 1829 and thinks the plural and the stake word made it masculine,^[3] but the GLLF and Bloch and Wartburg call its origin obscure.^[10][4] From it come se pieuter (1875) and pieuter (1888, Courteline) “to go to bed”.^[3][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 524b
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse