poil

Forms

poil m (plural poils)^[1] Old French peil (1080); poil from about 1175.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French peil, inherited from Latin pilus (“a hair; figuratively, a trifle”),^{[5][2][3][6][7][1]} which named a single hair, as opposed to the collective capillus (see cheveu), and with a negation a thing of no importance.^[2] Its origin is obscure: Rey notes that there is no Indo-European noun for this notion.^[2][8]

Cognate with Romanian păr, Italian pelo, Spanish pelo, Occitan pel, Catalan pèl, Portuguese pelo and Basque bilo.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Chanson de Roland (about 1100) uses peil collectively for a person's hair: Et Blancandrins i vint al chenu peil, “Blancandrin came there with his white hair”, and deit hum perdre e del quir e del peil, “a man must lose skin and hair” for his lord.^[5][10]

Semantic evolution

From the collective sense came the now dated uses for a beard (1655) and for the hair of the head, and by analogy the coat of an animal (Chrétien de Troyes, about 1170, of a horse).^[2][5] A single hair is recorded before the end of the 12th century, and a fur pelt about 1190.^[2] It was extended to the pile of velvet (1395), to poil de chèvre (1663), to the down of plants (15th century) and poil à gratter (1890).^[2][5] Old French already had poil d'erbe for a trifle (13th century).^[5]

Many phrases followed: encontre poil (1176–84), later à rebrousse-poil, un brave à trois poils (Molière, 1659); de tout poil (La Fontaine, 1671); avoir un poil dans la main “to be lazy” (1808); être de mauvais poil (1833); à poil “stark naked” (1858); au poil “just right” (1918).^[5][2][4] The derivative poilu took in popular French the sense “strong, brave”, and the soldier of 1914–18.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – Peil, Chanson de Roland.^[5]
• c. 1170 – A horse's coat, Chrétien de Troyes.^[5]
• 1176–84 – Encontre poil.^[5]
• 1395 – The pile of velvet.^[5]
• 1659 – Un brave à trois poils, Molière.^[5]
• 1808 – Avoir un poil dans la main.^[5]
• 1858 – À poil “naked”.^[5]
• 1918 – Au poil “perfectly”.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A hair on the body of a person or animal; body hair: poil pubien.^[1][8]
2. An animal's coat, de tout poil, of every kind.^[8][2][1]
3. A bristle of a brush; the pile of a fabric.^[1][2]
4. (familiar) Un poil: a tiny bit, à un poil près, d'un poil, by a whisker.^[4][1]
5. (familiar) À poil: naked, au poil, perfect, great, de mauvais poil, in a bad mood.^[1][5]
6. Avoir un poil dans la main: to be lazy, reprendre du poil de la bête, to pick up again, à rebrousse-poil, the wrong way.^[1][5]
7. Poil à gratter: itching powder.^[2][1]

Word family

• poilu
• pelage
• poiler
• poilant

Related words

• cheveu
• épiler
• pileux
• pelouse
• horripiler

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 509b
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette