tailler

Forms

tailler^[1] Old French talier (10th century) and taillier (11th century); tailler dates from the 13th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French taillier, inherited from Late Latin tāliō (“to cut”), recorded from the 6th century.^[3][4][1][5] It probably comes from Classical tālea (“cutting, scion, stake”), so that its first sense would have been “to prune”; the compound intertāliō (“to prune trees”) is found earlier, in the 4th century.^[3][4][6] Rey thinks the Latin noun a technical term, probably borrowed, and rejects comparisons with a supposed root.^[4]

Cognate with Romanian tăia, Italian tagliare, Occitan talhar, Catalan tallar, Spanish tajar and Portuguese talhar.^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as talier in the Vie de saint Léger (second half of the 10th century), meaning “to cut into pieces”.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, “to cut, to slice with a blade”, has gone out of use in several old uses, such as cutting meat or striking with the edge of a sword (end of the 13th century), which gave tailler en pièces.^[4][3] The general sense “to cut” lives on in the regional French of the south, from Languedoc to Aquitaine, partly under the influence of Occitan talhar.^[4]

The verb stayed current for working a material with a tool to give it a shape, by removing what is not needed (1050 in the DHLF, about 1140 in the TLFi).^[4][3] In tailoring it meant “to cut out (a garment)” from about 1150, whence tailleur and tailler une bavette “to chat” (1842, earlier tailler des bavettes, 1690); it was also used in sculpture and, going back to the etymological sense, for pruning trees (1283).^[4] In the Middle Ages it also meant “to subject to the taille”, the tax (1200).^[3]

The pronominal se tailler “to carve out for oneself” (se tailler un succès, 1881) is a later extension.^[3][4] An old use in navigation survives in tailler la route (1946) and in familiar se tailler “to clear off” (1945, after intransitive tailler in 1928).^[3][4]

Timeline

• 950–1000 – Talier appears in the Vie de saint Léger.^[3]
• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland says Durendal ben trenchet et taillet.^[3][9]
• c. 1150 – Used for cutting out a garment, in Eneas.^[3][4]
• 1200 – Jean Bodel uses it for “to tax”.^[3]
• 1283 – Used for pruning trees.^[4]
• 1579 – Tailler en pièces appears in Larivey.^[3]
• 1690 – Furetière records it as a card-game term.^[3]
• 1842 – Tailler une bavette “to chat”.^[4]
• 1881 – Zola writes se tailler un succès.^[3]
• 1945 – Se tailler “to clear off” appears in Sartre.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cut a material or object with a sharp tool to give it a set shape: tailler une pierre, tailler un crayon.^[8][10][1]
2. To prune trees, hedges or vines.^[9][8]
3. To cut out a garment from cloth.^[3][1]
4. (dated) To cut, to slice;^[8][3] tailler en pièces, to cut to pieces, to rout an army.^[8][3]
5. (pronominal) se tailler something: to carve out for oneself (a success, a share).^[3][4]
6. (familiar, pronominal) se tailler: to clear off, to leave quickly.^[3][1]

Word family

• taille
• taillader
• taillandier
• taillant
• taille-crayon
• tailleur
• taillis
• tailloir
• détailler
• entailler
• retailler

Related words

• couper
• trancher
• Latin tālea

Usage notes

Tailler une bavette means “to have a chat”.^[4] Tailler la route is to set off and travel fast.^[3][8] Se tailler la part du lion and tailler des croupières are other set phrases.^[1][8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 39b
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)