treille

Forms

treille f (plural treilles)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French treille, inherited from Latin trichila (“arbour, bower”).^[2][3][4][1] Rey regards the Latin word as a loanword.^[3] Littré also cites the Latin form trichla.^[5]

Cognate with Old Occitan trelha^[4][6] and with the dialect forms Burgundian traille and Walloon treie.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 11th century in Rashi's French glosses, for an arbour formed by vines; the first text in French itself is the Couronnement de Louis (about 1135).^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the arbour of vines became the vine itself trained against a wall or trellis, a sense found in Gace Brulé (1179–1185).^[2][3] At the turn of the 13th century the word also meant a grille or lattice meant to block the view, a sense later taken over by treillis.^[2][3] Estienne records it in 1538 for a framework of laths set parallel or crossed to form arbours.^[2]

Le jus de la treille, a jocular name for wine, is found in La Fontaine in 1668, and le dieu de la treille, Bacchus, in 1579.^[7] By likeness of shape the word was used from 1877 for each mesh of tulle, possibly under the influence of treillis.^[3][7]

Timeline

• Late 11th century – Rashi's glosses use treille for an arbour of vines.^[2][7]
• c. 1135 – The Couronnement de Louis has the same sense.^[2]
• 1179–1185 – Gace Brulé uses it for a vine trained against a support.^[2][3]
• Late 12th–early 13th century – It names a grille or lattice.^[2][3]
• 1283 – The derivative treillis appears as treilleiz.^[3]
• 1538 – Estienne records it for a framework of laths.^[2]
• 1600 – treillage is recorded in Olivier de Serres.^[4]
• 1668 – Le jus de la treille appears in La Fontaine.^[7]
• 1877 – Littré records the sense “mesh of tulle”.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. An arbour or bower of vines held up by a treillage, or one covered with other climbing plants.^[8][2]
2. A vine trained against a wall, an espalier or a trellis, especially for table grapes: une treille de chasselas.^[8][7]
3. (humorous) Le jus de la treille: wine.^[8][7]
4. (technical) A mesh of tulle.^[8][7]

Word family

• treillage
• treillis
• treillard
• treillon

Related words

• Latin trichila

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a second treille (1659, in another sense 1409), a net for catching shrimps, from Latin tragula “harrow, net”;^[9] Littré lists the shrimp net as a sense of treille.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert