touiller

Forms

touiller^[1] Old French tooillier, toeillier, touellier and other spellings; the modern form is recorded from 1421.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tooillier, inherited from Latin tudiculō (“to crush, grind”).^[5][6][3][7] The Latin verb, found in Varro, is formed from tudicula, a machine for crushing olives,^[7][5] which the DHLF also glosses as a skimmer or ladle, a diminutive of tudes (“hammer”);^[3][8] both belong to the family of tundō (“to beat, pound”).^[5][3][7]

The TLFi classes it as a dialect word of the north of France;^[5] Bloch and Wartburg say that it lived on in the northern dialects with the senses “stir, mix, soil”, and that standard French took it back from them for technical uses.^[7] Godefroy, quoted by the TLFi, notes that it survived in all the dialects in the general sense of stirring, mixing and dirtying.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Chrétien de Troyes' Chevalier au lion (1176–1181), in the reflexive soi tooillier “to toss about, struggle”.^[5] By about 1200 it is transitive, “to stir”, in Aliscans;^[5] the DHLF also records a sense “to drag (someone) through the mud” from about 1180.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the verb ranged over stirring, mixing and soiling: it meant “to drag through the mud” (about 1180) and “to dirty” (about 1390), senses that remained in use until the 17th century.^[3] The sense “to mix” is dated 1335, and the Ménagier de Paris (about 1393) uses it in cooking.^[3][5] Card players have said touiller les cartes since 1599.^[3][8]

The word then fell out of the standard language: the Dictionnaire de Trévoux (1752–1771) lists it as an old word.^[5] It came back in the 19th century, first in a technical sense, “to stir (a substance) in order to purify it” (1842), used of potato starch and of crude soda,^[5][3][4] and then as a familiar verb for stirring a sauce, a salad or a drink.^[3][9] Of its many Old French derivatives few survive: the deverbal noun touille (about 1200, “throwing into the mud”, later a stirring tool), touillage (1793) and since the 1990s, touillette, the little stick for stirring a hot drink from a vending machine.^[3]

Timeline

• 1176–1181 – Chrétien de Troyes uses soi tooillier “to toss about”.^[5]
• c. 1180 – It means “to drag (someone) through the mud”.^[3]
• c. 1200 – Touellier “to stir” appears in Aliscans.^[5]
• 1335 – First record of the sense “to mix”.^[3]
• c. 1393 – The Ménagier de Paris uses toullier in cooking.^[5]
• 1421 – The spelling touiller is recorded.^[3][4]
• 1599 – Touiller les cartes “to shuffle the cards”.^[3][8]
• 1752–1771 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux lists it as an old word.^[5]
• 1793 – The derivative touillage is recorded.^[5][3]
• 1842 – The technical sense “to stir in order to purify” appears.^[5][3]
• 1990s – Touillette names a stirring stick.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (familiar) To stir, to mix by stirring (a liquid, a paste, a salad): touiller son thé, touiller une pâte.^[5][9][10]
2. (card games) Touiller les cartes: to shuffle the cards.^[5][8]
3. (technical) To stir a substance in order to purify it, as potato starch or crude soda.^[5][9][11]

Word family

• touillage
• touilleur
• touillette
• touille

Related words

• ratatouille
• Latin tundō
• contusion

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 392b
7. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette