pilote

Forms

pilote m (plural pilotes)^[1] Middle French pilot (1339, used until 1641) and pillote (14th century); the form pilote appears in 1484.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian piloto, also pilota,^{[2][3][4][5][6][7]} found beside pedoto and pedotta.^[3][4] These go back to a Byzantine Greek *pēdōtēs (“helmsman”), derived from Ancient Greek πηδόν (pēdón, “oar blade, (plural) rudder”);^[2][3][4][8] the Greek word belongs to the family of πούς (poús, “foot”).^[3] Medieval Latin pillottus is recorded at Genoa in 1282.^[2] The change of /d/ to /l/ is explained by the TLFi as a feature of Byzantine pronunciation, and by others as the influence of Italian pileggio “navigation”;^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg think the Greek word reached Sicily, which has both Sicilian pidotu and pilotu.^[4][3] Old French pedot, recorded once about 1320, came from the Italian form with /d/.^[2][3]

P. Guiraud, who rejected this account, saw the word as an indirect descendant of Latin pīla (“pillar, jetty”) through a Romance verb *pilottō (“to bring a ship to the jetty”).^[3][5] Spanish piloto and Portuguese piloto also come from Italian.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as pilot in 1339, in accounts of the Chambre des Comptes of Normandy for Genoese sailors, meaning the person who steers a ship.^[2][9]

Semantic evolution

Figuratively the word named the person who guides a community, first of Pope Paul IV in a poem by Du Bellay (before 1560), then (1676) anyone who serves as a guide.^[2][3] In 1694 it named the pilot fish, which follows ships and sharks.^[2][3] At sea it came to mean the pilot attached to a port who takes charge of a ship in harbour waters.^[3]

From ships it passed to other vehicles: a balloon (1782), an aeroplane (1908), now a very common sense with many phrases (pilote de chasse, pilote de ligne), and a motor vehicle (1903), especially a racing car.^[2][3] In apposition it means “leading the way” in locomotive pilote (1874) and “serving as a model” in usine pilote (1949) and lycée pilote.^[2][3] The sense “prototype of a magazine or television programme” is recorded in 1995.^[10] English pilot (1510s) came from French.^[11]

Timeline

• 1282 – Medieval Latin pillottus is recorded at Genoa.^[2]
• c. 1320 – Old French pedot is recorded once.^[2][3]
• 1339 – Pilot is first recorded.^[2][9]
• 1484 – The form pilote appears, in Garcie's Grand Routier, with the verb piloter.^[2][3]
• Before 1560 – Du Bellay applies it to the Pope as a guide.^[2]
• 1641 – Last record of the form pilot.^[2][4]
• 1694 – It names the pilot fish.^[2][3]
• 1769 – pilotin is recorded.^[3]
• 1782 – It is used for the pilot of a balloon.^[2][3]
• 1903 – Bloy uses it for the driver of a car.^[2]
• 1908 – L'Auto uses it for an aeroplane pilot.^[2][10]
• 1949 – Usine pilote is recorded.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (nautical) A licensed pilot who guides ships into and out of ports and through difficult waters, and formerly anyone who steered a ship.^[9][6][2]
2. A person who flies an aircraft: pilote de ligne, pilote de chasse, pilote d'essai.^[9][6]
3. Pilote automatique: an autopilot.^[9]
4. A racing driver.^[6][1]
5. A person who guides someone in a place.^[6]
6. (literary) A person who leads a group or a country.^[6][2]
7. In apposition, something that serves as an experimental model: classe pilote, usine pilote.^[6][3]
8. Poisson pilote: the pilot fish.^[2][3]
9. (television) A pilot, a trial episode of a programme.^[1][10]
10. (computing) A device driver.^[1]

Word family

• piloter
• pilotin
• pilotage
• copilote

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 w x y 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 147a
8. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com