tuile

Forms

tuile f (plural tuiles)^[1] Old French tiule (about 1170), tieul (about 1200) and tioule (13th century), then tuille (1330) and tuile (16th century).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French tiule, inherited from Latin tēgula (“tile, roof”).^[3][2][5][1] The Latin word, used mostly in the plural and by metonymy for the roof, is derived from tegō (“to cover”), the verb behind toit.^[2][3] The modern form comes from the Old French one by metathesis of the ⟨i⟩.^[3][2][6] Bloch and Wartburg give teule as the earliest form.^[6] Littré cites Norman tieule and Picard teule.^[7] In the northeast of France a tile is called panne, probably from Latin patina (“dish”).^[6]

Cognate with Italian tegola, Occitan teula, Catalan teula, Spanish teja and Portuguese telha.^[8] It is a doublet of tégule, a learned borrowing of the same Latin word.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Quatre Livres des Rois (about 1170) has tiule for the plate of baked clay used to cover roofs.^[3][2][7]

Semantic evolution

The plural les tuiles meant a tiled roof from 1553, and the singular la tuile took this collective sense with Rousseau (1762).^[2][3] From the 18th century the word was extended to plates of other materials used the same way, such as tuile de pierre (1721), and the cloth-shearers used it for a board for laying the nap of cloth (1723).^[2][3] A tuile à galette was a clay plate for baking flat cakes (1706), and Littré noted tuile as a western regional word for a flat pan.^[3][2] The thin curved biscuit called tuile is recorded from 1895.^[3][2]

Comparing it to a tile falling on someone's head, familiar French uses tuile for an unexpected mishap (1782, Mme de Genlis), as in quelle tuile !.^[3][2][9] Bloch and Wartburg date this sense only from 1846.^[6] In salesmen's slang it was a customer who buys nothing (Zola, 1882).^[2] In Quebec French tuile is also used for a tile of plaster or similar material.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Tiule in the Quatre Livres des Rois.^[3]
• 1330 – The metathesized form tuille appears.^[2][4]
• 1538 – Robert Estienne has the spelling tuile.^[4][10]
• 1553 – Les tuiles is used for a tiled roof.^[2][10]
• 1706 – Tuile à galette, a clay baking plate.^[3]
• 1721 – Tuile de pierre is recorded.^[3][2]
• 1762 – Rousseau uses la tuile collectively.^[3]
• 1782 – Mme de Genlis uses it for an unexpected mishap.^[3][2]
• 1882 – Zola records the salesmen's sense “customer who buys nothing”.^[2]
• 1895 – The biscuit called tuile is recorded.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tile, a thin plate of baked clay used to cover roofs; collectively, tiling: un toit de tuiles rouges.^[9][3][11]
2. A plate of another material used the same way: tuile de pierre.^[9][3]
3. Each of the metal plates that make up the tracks of a tracked vehicle.^[9]
4. (cooking) A thin crisp biscuit shaped over a rolling pin: tuiles aux amandes.^[9][1]
5. (familiar) An unexpected mishap, a stroke of bad luck: quelle tuile !.^[9][3][1]

Word family

• tuileau
• tuiler
• tuilerie
• tuilette
• tuilier

Related words

• tégule
• toit
• Latin tēgula

Usage notes

In Quebec French tuile is used for a square tile of plaster or similar material, and tuile acoustique for a soundproofing ceiling tile, uses that are criticized.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/1, 153a
6. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)