trou French · revision 16547

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=1176–81, Chrétien de Troyes, Chevalier au lion (tro)|origins=la-vul *traucum}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /tʁu/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''trou''' ''m'' (plural trous)^(Wiktionary)

+ Old French ''trau'' (about 1175), ''tro'', ''treu'', ''trou'' from the mid-13th century.^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|la-vul|*traucum]], recorded in Medieval Latin as “traugum” in the 8th-century Ripuarian Law.^(DHLF 1992)^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(GLLF 1989)^(FEW|13/2, 228b) The word is found only in Gallo-Romance and Catalan, Bloch and Wartburg think it surely pre-Latin, probably Gaulish, but since the other Celtic languages have nothing similar, the Gauls may have taken it from a people who lived in Gaul before them.^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)^(Grand Robert 2005)^(Petit Robert 2007) Wiktionary mentions a proposed borrowing from [[grc|τρῦπα|tr=trûpa|t=hole]], and Littré a Germanic link with [[de|Trog|t=trough]].^(Wiktionary)^(Littré 1873)

+

+ Compare [[pro|trauc]] and [[ca|trau|t=buttonhole]]; elsewhere in France the same idea is expressed by [[pertuis]] or derivatives of [[forer]].^(Bloch & Wartburg 1989)^(DHLF 1992)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ In Chrétien de Troyes' ''Chevalier au lion'' (1176–81) ''tro'' is an opening through a body or into it: ''tex tros i font''.^(TLFi)^(GLLF 1989)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ A burrow or den is a ''trau'' early in the 13th century (''Soris ki n'a c'un trau poi dure''), a gaping wound about 1225, and a hole made by wear in 1279.^(TLFi)^(Littré 1873) ''Trou du cul'' is in Henri de Mondeville (1314).^(TLFi) From the 15th century it named a tavern (Villon), a small out-of-the-way place (1525) and a cramped dwelling (1592); ''faire son trou'' “to make one's way” is in Balzac (1833).^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ A debt is a ''trou'' in Oudin (1640), whence ''boucher un trou'' and the modern ''trou de la Sécu''.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992) ''Boire comme un trou'' dates from 1649, and the ''trou normand'', a glass of spirits between courses, from 1867–76.^(BHVF)^(GLLF 1989)^(DHLF 1992) The prison was ''le trou'' from 1725, and in golf the ''trous'' are the holes (1895).^(TLFi) ''Trou de mémoire'' and ''trou d'air'' (1914) are modern.^(DHLF 1992)^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 1175 – ''Trau''.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1176–81 – ''Tro'', Chrétien de Troyes.^(TLFi)

+ * Early 13th century – A burrow.^(TLFi)

+ * 1314 – ''Trou du cul'', Henri de Mondeville.^(TLFi)

+ * 1525 – A small, remote place.^(DHLF 1992)

+ * 1640 – A debt, ''avoir un trou sous le nez''.^(TLFi)

+ * 1649 – ''Boire comme un trou''.^(BHVF)

+ * 1725 – Prison.^(TLFi)

+ * 1833 – ''Faire son trou'', Balzac.^(TLFi)

+ * 1914 – ''Trou d'air''.^(TLFi)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|hole]], a hollow in a surface: ''un trou dans la route'', ''creuser un trou'', ''trou d'air'', an air pocket.^(Petit Robert 2007)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An opening through something: ''le trou de la serrure'', ''un trou dans une chaussette''.^(TLFi)^(Larousse)

+ # A burrow, ''(figurative)'' ''faire son trou'', to make a place for oneself.^(TLFi)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(familiar)'' A small, remote place: ''un trou perdu'', ''(slang)'' prison: ''être au trou''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A gap, a blank: ''trou de mémoire''; a deficit: ''le trou de la Sécurité sociale''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(golf)'' A hole.^(TLFi)^(DHLF 1992)

+ # In phrases: ''boire comme un trou'', ''trou normand''.^(DHLF 1992)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[trouer]]

+ * [[trouée]]

+ * [[trou-madame]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[la-vul|*traucum]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}