seille

Forms

seille f (plural seilles)^[1] Anglo-Norman spellings include seile, sele and seyle.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French seille, inherited from Latin situla (“bucket, pail”).^[3][4][5][6] A popular variant of the Latin word, *sitellus, gave the more widespread seau.^[5][7] Its learned doublet is situle.^[1]

The TLFi calls it a regional form, chiefly of the West and the East, in competition with the word for bucket that became standard.^[3] Bloch and Wartburg treat it as a dialect word that rivals the other in the Centre and is the only form in many speeches of the East and the far West.^[7] Meyer-Lübke held that it once belonged to the whole of France and gave way where sēcale (“rye”) had become seile, so that the word for rye and the word for pail clashed.^[8]

Cognate with Italian secchia, Occitan selha and Portuguese selha.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Étienne de Fougères's Manières (1174–1178), meaning a bucket for water: el bevra l'aive a la seille “she will drink the water from the pail”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The word named a bucket of wood or canvas and has stayed in use in the countryside and in regional French down to the present.^[5] In winemaking it came to mean the wooden vessel in which the must is carried from the press to the vat, a sense recorded in 1752.^[3][9]

In Swiss French it is very common for a large wooden bucket with handles, and more widely for any bucket in rural life; it is used figuratively in pleuvoir des seilles, and prendre une seille means to suffer a heavy defeat.^[5] Its derivative seillon (1355), first a small pail, came in the 19th century to name a milking pail and a shallow tub for the wine that drips during racking.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1174–1178 – Étienne de Fougères uses seille for a water pail.^[3]
• 1355 – The derivative seillon is recorded for a pail to milk ewes.^[3][5]
• 1374 – In Switzerland seillon is found in the form salion.^[5]
• 1752 – The supplement to the Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the winemaking sense.^[3]
• 1904 – Seillon names a tub set under the taps to catch wine.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (dated or regional) A bucket of wood or canvas, with lugs through which a rope is passed as a handle.^[3][10][1]
2. (winemaking) A wooden vessel for carrying wine or must from the press to the vat.^[3][9]
3. (Switzerland) A large wooden bucket with handles, or any bucket.^[5]

Word family

• seillon

Related words

• seau
• situle
• Latin situla

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 11, 665a
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert