Etymologically
Log in

voiler

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the French word voiler

voiler1 to veil, cover

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
1155 Wace, Brut
Ultimate origin
Latin velum
Etymology tree of voiler1
inherited borrowed derived
Latin vēlum
French voile
French voiler
Italian velo
Spanish velo
English velum
From the same root · voiler1
Latin vēlō ← vēlum
Latin vēxillum ← vēlum
Italian velare ← velo

Pronunciation

Forms

voiler[1] Old French veler; the form voiler is found from about 1380.[2][3][4]

Etymology

The verb for veiling is formed from French voile1 + -er, from the masculine noun for a veil.[2][1][3][5] The GLLF allows that it may also continue Latin vēlō (“to veil, cover, hide”), from vēlum (“hanging, veil”);[4][6] the Latin verb gave Italian velare, Spanish velar and Portuguese velar.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Wace's Brut (1155) has veler for covering a girl with a veil to make her a nun: Nune devint iloc velee “there she became a veiled nun”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The religious sense, “to make a girl take the veil”, lasted until the 18th century.[5] In the 13th century the verb was also used of hanging cloth over a thing to cover it, such as sheets along the route of a procession,[2][5] and in Middle French (about 1380) it took the general sense “to cover with a veil”.[5][3]

From 1550 it meant, by analogy, “to hide, make less visible”, then in 1611 “to conceal (the truth)”.[5][2] With the idea of losing brightness, voilé and se voiler were said of the sky (1550, 1690), of the eyes (1824) and of a voice that loses its clearness (1798, 1835).[2][5] In photography a épreuve voilée is one spoiled by stray light (1878).[2]

The TLFi finds se voiler le visage “to veil one's face” in 1624 and the biblical se voiler la face in Furetière (1690);[2] Rey dates the concrete reflexive “to hide one's face behind a veil” only to the 19th century, notably of Muslim women (1872),[5] whom Montesquieu's Lettres persanes had already described in 1721.[2]

Timeline

  • 1155 – Wace uses veler of making a nun.[2]
  • Second half of the 13th century – Used of spreading a cloth over a thing.[2]
  • c. 1380 – The form voiler and the general sense “cover with a veil”.[3][5][4]
  • 1550 – Ronsard uses it for “to hide, obscure”.[2]
  • 1611 – “To conceal the truth”.[5]
  • 1624 – Se voiler le visage in d'Urfé's Astrée.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière records se voiler la face and le soleil s'est voilé.[2]
  • 1798 – The Académie records voix voilée.[2]
  • 1878 – Épreuves voilées in photography.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cover with a veil; to spread a veil or cloth over: voiler un tableau.[8][9]
  2. (reflexive) Se voiler le visage: to wear the veil, and se voiler la face: to refuse to look at what shocks or tempts one.[8][9]
  3. (literary, figurative) To conceal, disguise: voiler ses intentions.[8][9][6]
  4. To make less visible or less clear;[9][2][1] (reflexive) to cloud over, of the sky, the eyes or the voice.[9][2][1]
  5. (photography) To fog a plate or film by letting in light.[2]

Word family

  • voilage
  • voilement

voiler2 to sail; to warp, buckle

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1160
Ultimate origin
Latin velum
Etymology tree of voiler2
inherited borrowed derived
French voile
French voiler

Pronunciation

Forms

voiler[1] Old French veilier (1165–1170), remade as voiller about 1175.[5]

Etymology

The verb for sails is a derivative from French voile2, the feminine noun for a sail.[3][8][5][6] That noun comes from Late Latin vēla, the plural of vēlum (“sail”) taken as a feminine singular.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1160 as veilier, “to put (a ship) to sail”.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was “to set (a ship) under sail”.[5][3] From 1765 it was used by analogy for taking a convex shape like a sail swelling in the wind,[5][8] and in 1771 se voiler was said of a piece of wood or metal that warps and is no longer flat.[5][8] Planche voilée “warped board” is recorded in Canada in 1746–1747, and the adjective was later said of a bent wheel; the verb is now used mainly in the reflexive, or transitively with a person as subject (early 20th century).[5] Voilé also meant “fitted with sails” (1165–1170, veilé).[5]

Timeline

  • c. 1160 – Veilier “to put a ship to sail”.[3][5]
  • c. 1175 – The form voiller.[5]
  • 1746–1747 – Planche voilée in Canada.[5]
  • 1765 – Used of taking a curved shape like a sail.[5][8]
  • 1771 – Se voiler “to warp”.[5][8]
  • 1933 – The noun voile (masculine) for a buckled wheel is derived from it.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (nautical, transitive) To fit a ship with sails.[8][10]
  2. (obsolete, intransitive) To bulge, take a curved shape like a sail.[8]
  3. (reflexive) Of a board, shelf or piece of metal: to warp, no longer be flat;[8][9] gauchir.[8][9]
  4. (reflexive) Of a wheel: to buckle: une roue voilée.[8][9]
  5. (transitive) To warp or buckle something.[10][5]

Word family

  • voilage
  • voilement

Usage notes

The two verbs are numbered 1 and 2 in the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert, after voile 1 (masculine, “veil”) and voile 2 (feminine, “sail”).[3][8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 t 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. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 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. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
  10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
Cite this entry

“Voiler.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/voiler. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

Last edited on . ·