plieur

Forms

plieur m (plural plieurs)^[1] Feminine plieuse.^[2][3] The oldest form is the feminine ploieresse (1310), from the stem of ployer.^[2][4]

Etymology

It is formed from French plier + -eur, the first form being made on ployer, the older form of the verb.^[2][3][4] Littré compares Italian piegatore.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The feminine ploieresse appears in 1310 in a document from Reims, for a woman who folds a supple material.^[2][4] The masculine plieur is first found in Des Périers's Nouvelles récréations et joyeux devis (1558; the GLLF dates the work to about 1534): “Les hommes mal vestus, quand ils seroient plieurs de corporaux, si sont-ils à tous coups prins pour espies” (“ill-dressed men, even if they were folders of corporals, are always taken for spies”).^[2][6][5]

Semantic evolution

In the 16th century it was also an adjective: Paré calls the muscles that bend the wrist “flecheurs ou plieurs”, and Cotgrave (1611) glosses muscles plieurs as the muscles that bend the toes.^[5][7] Nicot (1606) defines the noun as anyone who folds something, with examples such as plieur de lettres and plieur de livres à relier.^[8] The trade senses followed: from 1690 (Furetière) it named a person who folds the printed sheets into gatherings, and one who puts dyed silk into skeins.^[6][2] The Académie has recorded it since 1762.^[2] In 1894 the feminine plieuse came to name a machine for folding paper, and later machine tools for bending sheet metal.^[2][3][9] Littré also records chenilles plieuses, caterpillars that fold leaves to make their nests.^[5]

Timeline

• 1310 – Ploieresse is recorded in a document from Reims.^[2]
• 1558 – Des Périers uses plieurs de corporaux.^[2][5]
• 1606 – Nicot defines it as one who folds anything.^[8]
• 1611 – Cotgrave glosses it as “a foulder, plaiter” and records muscles plieurs.^[7]
• 1690 – Furetière records it in printing.^[6]
• 1762 – The Académie française enters the word.^[2]
• 1894 – Plieuse names a machine for folding paper.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A worker whose job is to fold some material or object: plieur de parachutes.^[2][3][9]
2. (printing) A person who folds printed sheets to form the gatherings of a book.^[2][6]
3. A person who puts dyed silk into skeins.^[2][6]
4. Plieuse (feminine): a machine for folding paper, or a machine tool for bending sheet metal.^[3][9][4]

Related words

• plier
• ployer
• pliage
• pli

References

1. ^ 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b Cotgrave, Randle (1611), A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues, London: Adam Islip
8. ^ a b Nicot, Jean (1606), Thresor de la langue françoyse, tant ancienne que moderne, Paris: David Douceur
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert