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pilier

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Etymology and origin of the French word pilier

Confidence
Established
Formation
Inherited
First attested
c. 1100 late 11th century, Rashi's glosses (as piler) More words from the 11th century
Inherited from
Old French piler
Ultimate origin
Latin pīla

Pronunciation

Forms

pilier m (plural piliers)[1] Old French piler, replaced by pilier from about 1155.[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French piler, which goes back to an unattested noun formed on Latin pīla (“pillar, column”).[2][4][3][5][1] The TLFi and the DHLF call that noun Late Latin, Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert popular Latin.[2][3][5][6] The present form arose from the old one by a change of suffix.[2][5][3]

Cognate with Occitan pilar and Spanish pilar.[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The older form piler is found at the end of the 11th century in Rashi's glosses and early in the 12th century in the Voyage of Saint Brendan;[2][3] pilier first appears about 1155 in Wace's Brut.[2][3] The word came into French as an architectural term with the Latin sense.[3]

Semantic evolution

In the 13th century it was used familiarly for the legs, especially heavy, massive legs (1640, il a de bons gros piliers).[2][3] The first figurative senses, a support or defender, also date from the 13th century: comme pilers de chevalerie in the prose Lancelot (1220–1240), and of an abstract thing in Brunetto Latini's Trésor (about 1265), le piler de beatitude.[2][3]

Later it was applied, mostly pejoratively, to a person always found in the same place, as if planted there: pilliers de taverne (1508), pilier de cabaret (1640).[2][3][8] In the 17th century it entered clockmaking (1680) and quarrying, for the masses of stone left to hold up the roof (1694), and in anatomy it names supporting folds such as piliers du voile du palais (1787).[2][3] In rugby it has named, since 1925, each of the two front-row forwards on either side of the hooker.[3][2]

Timeline

  • late 11th century – Rashi's glosses have piler.[2][9]
  • c. 1155 – Wace has the form pilier.[2][3]
  • 13th century – It is used familiarly for the legs.[2][3]
  • 1220–1240 – The prose Lancelot uses it for a defender.[2]
  • 1508 – Pilliers de taverne is recorded.[2][8]
  • 1680 – Richelet records a clockmaking sense.[2]
  • 1694 – Thomas Corneille records it in quarrying.[2][9]
  • 1787 – Piliers du voile du palais appears in anatomy.[2]
  • 1925 – It is first used in rugby.[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pillar, an isolated vertical support of masonry carrying a vault, roof or arcade; also a timber post or metal pylon.[10][11]
  2. (mining) A mass of rock left in place to hold up the roof of a working.[10][9]
  3. (anatomy) A supporting fold or band: piliers du voile du palais, piliers du diaphragme.[10][2]
  4. (figurative) A person or thing essential to an institution, a mainstay: ce professeur est un pilier de l'école.[11][2]
  5. (familiar) A regular who hardly leaves a public place: pilier de bar, pilier de comptoir.[11][1]
  6. (familiar, dated) A thick, heavy leg.[11][10]
  7. (rugby) A prop forward.[1][3]
  8. (mountaineering) A pillar-like rock structure.[11]

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 n o p q r s t u v 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 492b
  5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  11. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Pilier.” Etymologically, 14 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/pilier. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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