volaille

Forms

volaille f (plural volailles)^[1] Old French volille (about 1150), voleille (1213); volaille is found once in the 13th century and again from 1317.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French volille, inherited from Late Latin volātilia (“birds, flying creatures”), the neuter plural of volātilis (“flying, winged”) used as a noun and later taken as a feminine collective, from volō (“to fly”).^{[4][2][3][5][1]} The ending -aille replaced the older -ille by a change of suffix.^[6][3] It is the popular doublet of volatile.^[2][1]

Cognate with Italian volatile.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word first meant birds in general: volilles et venison, birds and venison, are served in Floire et Blancheflor (about 1170).^[3][8]

Semantic evolution

From the general sense “birds” it came to mean a wild bird (1317), and in the 16th century la volaille became the collective name for birds raised for their meat or eggs (1531 according to Rey, 1552 in Robert Estienne according to the TLFi).^[2][4] Une volaille, a single farmyard bird, follows in 1678 in La Fontaine.^[2][4] The meat itself is meant in bouillon de volaille (1834, Balzac).^[4]

In very familiar use the word meant a woman of loose life (1808), and in slang a woman, as several hens share one cock in a farmyard.^[2][4] With another image, the cackle of the farmyard, it was used scornfully of a group of women or girls (1848–1849); these uses are archaic.^[2][4] Slang also used it for the police (1900) and a policeman (1901).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – First recorded as volille.^[2]
• 1213 – The form voleille appears in the Fet des Romains.^[2][3]
• 1317 – Volaille appears in Liège regulations, of wild birds.^[4]
• 1530 – Palsgrave glosses volaille as wild fowl.^[4]
• 1552 – Robert Estienne uses it for farmyard birds.^[4][9]
• 1678 – La Fontaine uses une volaille for a single bird.^[4][2]
• 1808 – D'Hautel records the sense “woman of loose life”.^[4][3]
• 1834 – Balzac writes bouillon de volaille.^[4]
• 1900 – Slang uses it for the police.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. poultry: the birds of the farmyard raised for their eggs and meat, taken as a whole.^[10][4]
2. Their meat as food: bouillon de volaille.^[10][4]
3. Une volaille: a single farmyard bird, a fowl.^[10][4] Découper une volaille.^[10][4]
4. (archaic, pejorative) A group of women or girls.^[4][2]
5. (slang, dated) The police, or a policeman.^[4]

Word family

• volailleur

Related words

• volatile
• voler
• Latin volātilis

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 14, 609b
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert