traille

Forms

traille f (plural trailles)^[1] The 1409 record has the masculine form trele.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle French traille, inherited from Latin tragula (“javelin with a thong, harrow, net”).^[2][3][4] Rey points out that it is only attested in Middle French but, having come down orally from the Latin, must be older.^[5] Wiktionary gives an intermediate contracted *tragla.^[1] Littré quoted Diez's derivation from the Latin word, accepted the form but doubted the sense, and leaned towards a contraction of tiraille, since the verb trailler exists.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1409 in a document from Tournai, as the masculine trele, for a rope used to haul a boat; the feminine follows in 1486 in Jean Boutillier's Somme rural.^[2] The GLLF dates Boutillier's use to about 1395.^[7]

Semantic evolution

From the towing rope the word passed to the ferry itself: Pomey records in 1671 a traille for crossing a river, a boat driven by the current while a pulley runs along a cable stretched from bank to bank.^[2][7] From 1835 it was also used for the ferry's guiding cable.^[2] It is a regional word, mostly from the Franco-Provençal and Occitan areas.^[2] The Larousse of 1904 also gives it as a name for a trawl net.^[7]

Timeline

• 1409 – Trele “towing rope” in a Tournai document.^[2]
• 1486 – The feminine form in the printed Somme rural.^[2]
• 1671 – Pomey records it for a river ferry.^[2][7]
• 1835 – Used for the ferry's cable.^[2]
• 1904 – Recorded for a trawl net.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (regional) A ferry boat (bac) moved across a river by the current along a cable stretched between the banks.^[2][8][7]
2. The cable that guides such a ferry.^[2][8][1]
3. A trawl net, a chalut.^[7]

Related words

• traire
• Latin tragula

Usage notes

Littré gives the pronunciation with a palatal ll, not trâ-ye.^[6] Older texts and Littré also call it a pont volant.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 172a
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert