poulet

Forms

poulet m (plural poulets)^[1] Old French and Anglo-Norman polet, also spelled poulet and pullet.^[2] Middle French poulletz (plural, 1552) and poullaict (1556, for the letter).^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from French poule + -et, a diminutive of the word for the hen.^[3][4][5][1] The hen's name comes from Latin pulla, the feminine of pullus (“young animal, young fowl”).^[6][7]

Cognate forms are Walloon polet and Old Occitan polet, and Spanish has the diminutive pollito.^[5] English pullet came in the late 14th century from the Anglo-Norman and Old French diminutives.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean Renart's Guillaume de Dole (1228) has poulez lardez, larded young chickens: from the start it meant a young fowl, especially one raised for the table.^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

The bird sense has stayed central: the young of the hen, and a young cock or hen for eating (late 13th century, Beaumanoir), with poulet de grain “grain-fed chicken” from 1686.^[3][9] After poule d’Inde, poulet d’Inde named the young turkey (1552, Rabelais).^[3][10] From the 15th century poulet also means the cock itself in parts of France (Burgundy, the Jura and Savoy, Provence), where petit poulet is the chick.^[10]

In 1556 poullaict meant a letter, and by Montaigne's time a love letter;^[3][10] why is not known, though Bloch and Wartburg suggest that such notes were folded with two points like a chicken's wings.^[3][6] Like poule and poulette, it became a term of affection for a woman or a child (mon poulet, 1715–1735, Lesage),^[3][10] and in 1911 slang it took the sense “policeman”.^[3]

Timeline

• 1228 – Poulez lardez in Jean Renart's Guillaume de Dole.^[3]
• late 13th century – Beaumanoir uses it for a young fowl raised for the table.^[9]
• 15th century – It means the cock in several regions.^[10]
• 1552 – Rabelais has poulletz d’Inde “young turkeys”.^[3]
• 1556 – Poullaict “letter” in a farce.^[3]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses it for a love letter.^[3]
• 1686 – Poulet de grain in Dancourt.^[3]
• 1715–1735 – Mon poulet as a term of affection, in Lesage's Gil Blas.^[3]
• 1911 – Slang poulet “policeman”.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The young of the hen (poule), between the chick and the adult bird.^[8][11][3]
2. A chicken, a young cock or hen raised for its meat, and its meat: poulet rôti, poulet de grain.^[8][12][11]
3. (familiar) A term of endearment for a child or a woman: mon poulet.^[11][3]
4. (dated) A love letter, a billet-doux.^[11][1]
5. (slang) A policeman.^[11][1][3]

Related words

• poule
• poulette
• poulain
• Latin pullus
• English pullet

Usage notes

Rey treats the “love letter” sense as a separate word, perhaps taken from the bird's name by an obscure development, and calls Louis-Sébastien Mercier's story that poultry sellers slipped such notes under the wings of their birds unsupported.^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)