velours

Forms

velours m (invariable)^[1] Old French velos (about 1155), velous (about 1190) and veloux (late 13th to early 14th century); the form with -r appears in 1377, and the forms without it remain the commoner until the 16th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French velos (later altered to velours), inherited from Latin villōsus (“hairy, shaggy”), from villus (“tuft of hair”).^[3][2][4] The -r was added at a time when the pronunciation of a final r wavered, as in faucheux beside faucheur; the GLLF calls it a hypercorrection.^[3][2][5]

Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and the REW instead take the Old French word from Old Occitan velos (“velvet”), the Latin adjective used as a noun.^[6][7][8][9] Wiktionary also allows that it was formed in Old French from velu with the suffix -os.^[1] Littré preferred a Late Latin vellutum, like Italian velluto.^[10]

Cognate with Spanish velloso, Portuguese veloso and Italian villoso.^[2][9] Rey links the Latin noun with vellō (“to pluck”) and the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *wel-.^[2] It is a doublet of villeux.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Wace's Roman de Rou (1160–1174) velos names the cloth with a short, close pile; about 1165 it named a garment of velvet.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Many phrases name kinds of velvet: velours plein (1459), velours figuré (1564), velours ras (1616).^[2] The softness of the cloth gave figurative uses: cautère de velours “painless cautery” (Paré, 1579), faire patte de velours (1718), of a cat drawing in its claws and of someone hiding a will to harm under feigned gentleness, and jouer sur le velours, to play with money already won (1740), then to act without risk (1872).^[3][2] In popular speech velours meant a profit or an easy job (1900, Bruant).^[2]

From 1822 it also named a faulty liaison with an /z/ sound in place of /t/.^[3][2] In Quebec French faire un velours à quelqu'un means to flatter them.^[2] The English velours was borrowed from it in 1706, after an earlier velure (1580s).^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1155 – Rey's first record of velos.^[2]
• 1160–1174 – Velos appears in Wace's Roman de Rou.^[3]
• c. 1190 – The form velous is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1377 – The form velours appears, in a Flemish document.^[3][2][6]
• 1579 – Paré writes cautères de velours.^[3]
• 1718 – Faire patte de velours is recorded.^[2]
• 1740 – The Académie records jouer sur le velours.^[3][8]
• 1706 – English borrows the word as velours.^[11]
• 1822 – It names a faulty liaison.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. velvet, a fabric with a short, dense, upright pile on one side: une veste de velours, velours côtelé (corduroy).^[8][12][1]
2. (figurative) Something soft to the touch, the eye or the taste: faire des yeux de velours.^[12][13]
3. Faire patte de velours: to hide a wish to harm under feigned gentleness.^[12][13]
4. Jouer sur le velours: to stake only what one has already won; to act without risk.^[12][13]
5. De velours: gentle, without open violence: révolution de velours.^[13][2]
6. (dated) A faulty liaison with /z/ in place of /t/.^[12][13]

Word family

• velouté

Related words

• velu
• villeux
• Latin villōsus
• English velours

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 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 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 456b
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
13. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)