pion

Forms

pion m (plural pions)^[1] Old French peon and poon, then pyon (after 1450) and pion (1477–1478).^[2][3] In the sense “school supervisor” the feminine is pionne.^[2][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French peon, inherited from Late Latin pedōnem, the accusative, derived from pēs (“foot”).^[2][4][1][5] The Latin word is found in Classical Latin as a surname and in Late Latin glossaries as “one with big feet”; in speech it must have meant “one who goes on foot”, since Medieval Latin uses it for a foot soldier.^[2][4] The TLFi takes the chess piece from this word for a foot soldier, because the pawn moves slowly compared with the other pieces.^[3][2] Littré thought instead that poon was an old form of paon “peacock”, the piece having been shaped like the bird, and that it was later confused with the word for a foot soldier.^[6] It is a doublet of péon.^[1]

Cognate with Italian pedone, Spanish peón, Portuguese peão and Occitan pezó.^[7][6][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first meant a foot soldier (peon, about 1180), a sense that lasted into the 17th century, when Scarron still used it.^[2][4] In Raoul de Cambrai (late 12th century) poon already names the smallest piece in chess: d'un poon a un chevalier pris “with a pawn he has taken a knight”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The chess pawn, the slow piece beside the knight, stood for the foot soldier beside the horseman.^[2] Like other words from pied, pion also took a scornful sense: a poor wretch, a tramp (1505), now gone.^[2] From the game came donner le pion à quelqu'un “to get the better of someone” (1661) and then damer le pion (1688); the word was extended to the pieces of draughts (1689) and to any game piece.^[3][2]

Early in the 19th century schoolboys' slang used it, as a word for an underling, for a school supervisor (1834),^[2][4] found a year earlier in Baudelaire (1833);^[8] it gave the feminine pionne (1878).^[2] The old sense “foot soldier” lives on, no longer felt, in pionnier.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1180 – Peon “foot soldier”.^[2]
• Late 12th century – Poon names the chess pawn in Raoul de Cambrai.^[3][9]
• c. 1380 – The form pëon in Jean Le Fèvre.^[3]
• First half of the 15th century – Pion in Charles d'Orléans.^[3][9]
• 1505 – Used of a poor wretch.^[2]
• 1661 – Chapelain writes donner le pion.^[3]
• 1688 – Damer le pion is recorded.^[3][2]
• 1689 – La Bruyère uses it for a piece in draughts.^[3]
• 1833 – Baudelaire uses it for a school supervisor.^[8]
• 1878 – The feminine pionne appears.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chess) A pawn, one of the eight small pieces each player sets on the front row.^[10][3][9]
2. A piece in draughts and other board games, a counter.^[10][1]
3. (figurative) A person manipulated by others: n'être qu'un pion sur l'échiquier.^[10][1]
4. Damer le pion à quelqu'un: to outdo someone.^[10][3]
5. (school slang) In a school, a supervisor of the pupils.^[1][2][4]

Word family

• pionnier
• morpion
• pionner
• pionne

Related words

• péon
• pied
• Latin pēs

Usage notes

A separate pion, pronounced [piɔ̃] in two syllables, is the physics term for the pi meson (1957), formed from pi and the ending of électron.^[10][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l 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 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. 8, 146a
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
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 e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert