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sale

Etymology and origin of the French word sale

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 1160, Roman de Tristan
Borrowed from
Frankish *salo
Ultimate origin
Proto-Germanic (*salwaz)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
French sale
French salaud

Pronunciation

Forms

sale (plural sales)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *salo (“murky, dull, dirty”).[2][3][4][5][1][6] The Germanic word is represented by Old High German salo (“murky, dull”), Middle High German “sal” and Old English salu (“dark, dusky”), whence English sallow, Wiktionary takes it back to Proto-Germanic *salwaz (“dusky, muddy”).[2][1][7] Rey also cites Old Irish sail from the Celtic languages.[3] Littré hesitated between this etymology and Chevallet's derivation from a Gaelic word for “filth”.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Roman de Tristan (about 1160) and in Chrétien de Troyes (1176–81), of something that has lost its cleanness.[9][2][3]

Semantic evolution

About 1210 it was said of a person who does not wash enough, and, from the 13th century of what is indecent (pensee sale).[2][3] By the late 15th century it meant of a dull, murky colour, as in gris sale (1611), the sense of the Frankish word.[3][2] The moral sense, “contemptible”, appears in the 16th century (1576–85) and spread in the 19th, with sale type and many insults, sale gueule is in Courteline (1888).[3][10][2] Before a noun it became a general depreciative: une sale affaire (Balzac, 1847), sale temps (1858, figuratively); c'est pas sale means “excellent”.[3] A bombe sale (1968) gives heavy fallout.[2][3]

Timeline

  • c. 1160 – Roman de Tristan.[9]
  • c. 1180 – The verb salir.[4]
  • c. 1210 – Of an unwashed person.[2]
  • Mid-13th century – Pensee sale “indecent thought”.[2]
  • 1584 – Salaud.[4]
  • 1611 – Gris sale, Cotgrave.[2]
  • 1847 – Sale affaire, Balzac.[2]
  • 1888 – Sale gueule, Courteline.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. dirty: avoir les mains sales, du linge sale.[11][1]
  2. Of a person, unwashed; messy in one's work.[11][12]
  3. Of a colour, dingy, murky: un blanc sale.[12][3]
  4. Indecent, obscene: une histoire sale.[2][12]
  5. (before the noun) Nasty, rotten, unpleasant: un sale temps, une sale affaire, un sale coup.[1][3]
  6. (before the noun) Contemptible, despicable: un sale type.[1][3]

Word family

  • salir
  • saleté
  • salement
  • salissant
  • salissure
  • salaud
  • salope
  • saloperie
  • salopette
  • saligaud
  • salopard
  • saloper
  • salopiaud
  • English sallow

Usage notes

Placed after the noun, sale means physically dirty (des mains sales); before it, it is a general term of disparagement (une sale histoire).[9][2] The familiar noun le sale is the dirty laundry: mettre au sale.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 12b
  7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  12. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)

Derived terms

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Sale.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/sale. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

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