toile

Pronunciation

• IPA: /twal/^[1]

Forms

toile f (plural toiles)^[1] Old French teile (1140), toile from the late 12th century; also telle, tele, teille.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French teile, inherited from Latin tēla (“cloth on the loom; warp; web; plot”),^{[5][2][6][3][7][1]} from an older *texla, from texō (“to weave”) (see tisser).^[2][8]

Cognate with Italian tela, Old Occitan tela, Catalan tela, Spanish tela and Portuguese teia.^[9][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Voyage de Charlemagne (about 1140) has teile for cloth in the simplest weave.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

The cloth was at first of linen or hemp, toille de soye is found in 1453, gold and silver cloth in 1508 and toille de cotton in 1522.^[5][2] The chanson de toile (about 1228) was a medieval genre sung by women at the loom, and toile cirée “oilcloth” dates from 1230.^[5][2] Toile de Pénélope “an endless task” (1615) alludes to the Odyssey.^[2] The canvas prepared for painting (1604) gave toile “a painting” (1646); the word was used for a theatre curtain (Regnard, 1688, Dufresny, 1699) and for scenery, whence toile de fond (Goncourt, 1859), figurative from 1935.^[5][2]

Adenet le Roi (1275) speaks of a spider's web (toile d'araigne), and Charron (1601) of a schemer weaving his web.^[5] Other senses include a set of tents (1798), a membrane in anatomy (1538) and a plant disease (1904).^[5][2] Se mettre dans les toiles “to go to bed” is recorded by the Académie in 1718.^[5] In regional French (Normandy, eastern Brittany, Roussillon) toile is a floorcloth.^[2] La Toile for the World Wide Web is a calque of English Web.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Teile, Voyage de Charlemagne.^[5]
• c. 1228 – Chanson a toile.^[5]
• 1230 – Toile cirée.^[5]
• 1275 – Toile d'araigne, Adenet le Roi.^[5]
• 1352 – The diminutive toilette.^[6]
• 1522 – Toille de cotton.^[5]
• 1604 – Canvas for painting.^[2]
• 1615 – Toile de Pénélope.^[5]
• 1646 – “A painting”.^[5]
• 1859 – Toile de fond, Goncourt.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. cloth, linen, a fabric in plain weave: toile de lin, de coton, de jute, toile cirée, oilcloth.^[10][1]
2. canvas; a painting on canvas: une toile de maître.^[10][2]
3. Toile de fond: a backdrop, (figurative) a background.^[2][5]
4. Toile d'araignée: a spider's web, (figurative) a web of intrigue.^[1][5]
5. La Toile: the World Wide Web.^[1]
6. (familiar) Se faire une toile: to go to the cinema.^[10]
7. (regional) A floorcloth.^[2]

Word family

• toilette
• toilier
• entoiler
• rentoiler

Related words

• tisser
• tissu
• texte

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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 158b
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert