English
peloton
Peloton comes from French peloton ‘small ball, pellet’, and goes back to Latin pilus ‘strand of hair’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilus‘strand of hair’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpila‘ball’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*pilottareconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400pelote‘small ball’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentpelote‘small ball’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentpeloton‘small ball, pellet’
- Englishearliest quotation 1819peloton
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEpilus‘strand of hair’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEpila‘ball’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*pilottareconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400pelote‘small ball’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentpelote‘small ball’
- French, derivedc. 1600–presentpeloton‘small ball, pellet’
- Englishearliest quotation 1819peloton
Earliest quotation: 1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham pseudonym; Walter , Third Series. […]: “And so here, I suppose you intend to make…”
The story
Borrowed from French peloton (‘small ball (of thread, etc.), pellet; (cycling) group of riders formed during a cycling road race; (military) small group of soldiers, platoon’), from pelote (‘small ball (of thread, etc.)’) (ultimately from Latin pila (‘ball; ball game; globe, sphere’) (probably referring to a ball of hair), from pilus (‘strand of hair’), of uncertain origin) + -on (augmentative suffix).uncertain The source flags this step as uncertain.
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *pel-
film, simple, simply, felt, push, filter, powder, complain, fold, pulse, pillow, repeal, flaw, pollen, palate, compulsive, palpable, palladium, palatable, pall, expel, propel, repel, polemic, wallow, tuple, pollinate, palatal, pelt, muffle, apoplexy, pulver, palp, interpolate, peplum, pillion, 63 more
through Latin pilus ‘strand of hair’
piles, plush, peel, pilar, pillage, 21 more
through Latin pila ‘ball’
through Old French pelote ‘small ball’
Today it means
noun A group of riders formed during a cycling road race; especially, the main group of riders; the pack.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin pilus / peloton