seau

Forms

seau m (plural seaux)^[1] Old French seel (12th century) and sel (about 1245), replaced by seau from the 13th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French seel, inherited from Vulgar Latin *sitellus, a masculine variant of Latin sitella (“voting urn”).^[2][3][5][6] The Latin word is a diminutive of situla (“bucket, voting urn”), whose origin is unknown.^[3][7] The word belonged at first to northern France.^[3][6] The base word itself gave seille, used in the east and the far west of France and competing with it in the centre, often with another meaning.^[2][6]

Bloch and Wartburg compare Italian secchia.^[6] Littré gives the dialect forms Picard sciau and Walloon seyaî, and notes that the pronunciation /sjo/ was popular.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in the 12th century as seel, glossing Latin situla “bucket”.^[2][7]

Semantic evolution

Besides the vessel, the word has named its contents, a measure of liquid, since about 1245 (sel in Philippe Mousket).^[2][3][7] From this came il pleut à seaux “it is pouring”, recorded by Furetière in 1690.^[2][3] Seaux de ville (1680), the buckets used to carry water to a fire, gave way to seaux à incendie (1835), itself now out of use.^[3][8] Today the word covers buckets for many uses, such as the champagne bucket and the child's sand bucket.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 12th century – Seel glosses Latin situla.^[2]
• c. 1245 – Philippe Mousket uses sel for the contents of a bucket.^[2]
• 13th century – The form seau appears.^[3][4]
• 1680 – Seaux de ville names fire buckets.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records il pleut à seaux.^[2][7]
• 1835 – Seaux à incendie replaces seaux de ville.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A bucket or pail, a cylindrical container with a handle for carrying liquids or other materials: Un seau de sable.^[11][10][9]
2. A container for a particular use: seau à champagne, seau à glace, seau hygiénique.^[9][10]
3. A bucketful, the contents of a bucket: Elle a jeté un seau d'eau sur les braises.^[11][10]
4. Il pleut à seaux (familiar): it is pouring with rain.^[11][10]

Related words

• seille
• Latin situla

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 661a
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)