Etymologically
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trou

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Pronunciation

Forms

trou m (plural trous)[1] Old French trau (about 1175), tro, treu, trou from the mid-13th century.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *traucum, recorded in Medieval Latin as “traugum” in the 8th-century Ripuarian Law.[2][5][3][4][6] The word is found only in Gallo-Romance and Catalan, Bloch and Wartburg think it surely pre-Latin, probably Gaulish, but since the other Celtic languages have nothing similar, the Gauls may have taken it from a people who lived in Gaul before them.[5][2][3][7] Wiktionary mentions a proposed borrowing from Ancient Greek τρῦπα (trûpa, “hole”), and Littré a Germanic link with German Trog (“trough”).[1][8]

Compare Old Occitan trauc and Catalan trau (“buttonhole”); elsewhere in France the same idea is expressed by pertuis or derivatives of forer.[5][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Chrétien de Troyes' Chevalier au lion (1176–81) tro is an opening through a body or into it: tex tros i font.[9][4]

Semantic evolution

A burrow or den is a trau early in the 13th century (Soris ki n'a c'un trau poi dure), a gaping wound about 1225, and a hole made by wear in 1279.[9][8] Trou du cul is in Henri de Mondeville (1314).[9] From the 15th century it named a tavern (Villon), a small out-of-the-way place (1525) and a cramped dwelling (1592); faire son trou “to make one's way” is in Balzac (1833).[2][9]

A debt is a trou in Oudin (1640), whence boucher un trou and the modern trou de la Sécu.[9][2] Boire comme un trou dates from 1649, and the trou normand, a glass of spirits between courses, from 1867–76.[10][4][2] The prison was le trou from 1725, and in golf the trous are the holes (1895).[9] Trou de mémoire and trou d'air (1914) are modern.[2][9]

Timeline

  • c. 1175 – Trau.[2]
  • 1176–81 – Tro, Chrétien de Troyes.[9]
  • Early 13th century – A burrow.[9]
  • 1314 – Trou du cul, Henri de Mondeville.[9]
  • 1525 – A small, remote place.[2]
  • 1640 – A debt, avoir un trou sous le nez.[9]
  • 1649 – Boire comme un trou.[10]
  • 1725 – Prison.[9]
  • 1833 – Faire son trou, Balzac.[9]
  • 1914 – Trou d'air.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A hole, a hollow in a surface: un trou dans la route, creuser un trou, trou d'air, an air pocket.[7][1]
  2. An opening through something: le trou de la serrure, un trou dans une chaussette.[9][11]
  3. A burrow, (figurative) faire son trou, to make a place for oneself.[9][1]
  4. (familiar) A small, remote place: un trou perdu, (slang) prison: être au trou.[2][1]
  5. A gap, a blank: trou de mémoire; a deficit: le trou de la Sécurité sociale.[2][1]
  6. (golf) A hole.[9][2]
  7. In phrases: boire comme un trou, trou normand.[2][1]

Word family

  • trouer
  • trouée
  • trou-madame
  • Vulgar Latin *traucum

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 228b
  7. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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
  10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)