enbesiler

Forms

enbesiler verb^[1]

• embesiller, embesceiler, enbeciler, enbesailler, enbesceiler, enbesciller, enbeseiller, enbeselir^[1]
• embeseiller^[2]
• embesillier, embeseillier^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French en- + besillier (“to ill-treat, destroy”).^[4][3][2] The simple verb meant to ill-treat, torment, wound or massacre, and to ravage, and is recorded from the 13th to the early 15th century.^[5][6] In England it already meant "to embezzle, steal" by about 1235.^[7] Beside it stand the noun besil "massacre, carnage", first cited by the AND from 1155,^[8] and Old Occitan besilh (“destruction”).^[5]

The FEW puts besillier among the words of unknown origin,^[5][9] and Etymonline also calls it of unknown origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The AND's first citation, of 1321–1322, has the sense of taking something away unlawfully.^[1]

Semantic evolution

From making away with goods the verb went on to doing away with things altogether: the AND gives the senses of destroying, wiping out or getting rid of something, and of impairing it.^[1] Godefroy's quotations come from statutes of the English kings: written records of fines that have been made away with, and children carried off from the place where they were received into a religious order.^[2] The English verb embezzle took the sense of fraudulently putting money to one's own use by the 1580s.^[4]

Timeline

• 1321–1322 – the AND's first citation.^[1]
• 1433 – Middle English enbesiled in the Rolls of Parliament.^[10]
• 1580s – the English sense of fraudulent use.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. to take away unlawfully; to steal, misappropriate or embezzle.^[1]
2. to destroy, to do away with (a written record).^[1][2]
3. to impair.^[1]

Anglo-Norman

An Anglo-French word: the AND heads it embesiller, lists spellings from embesceiler to enbeselir and enbesiler, and first cites it from 1321–1322,^[1] while Etymonline dates the Anglo-French verb to about 1300.^[4] All of Godefroy's quotations come from statutes of the English kings,^[2] and Tobler–Lommatzsch only refers to Godefroy.^[3] Middle English took it as embesilen, "to make away secretly with goods or money of another" and "to destroy a document fraudulently",^[10] which became the English word embezzle in the early 15th century.^[4]

Descendants

• Middle English embesilen (borrowed; → English embezzle)^[10][4]

Related words

• besillier
• besil

Usage notes

The AND heads the word embesiller, Godefroy embeseiller and Tobler–Lommatzsch embes(e)illier.^[1][2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. embesiller
2. ^ a b c d e f Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 3:29
3. ^ a b c d Tobler, Adolf; Lommatzsch, Erhard (1925–2002), Altfranzösisches Wörterbuch, 11 vols., Berlin / Wiesbaden / Stuttgart: Weidmann / Steiner, p. 3:43
4. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 22/1:77
6. ^ Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon, p. 1:632
7. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. besiller
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–), p. s.v. besil
9. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf, p. s.v. besiller
10. ^ a b c Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)