"
The
pupil
of a merino herd
": this is the example given by Littré in 1874 for one of the articles he devoted to the word "
pupil
".
Can we imagine that we can be a sheep at this point?
To the point of being their student?
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Where does the word pupil come from?
As we have guessed, this "
student
" is probably not the one who receives the teaching of a teacher. The first meaning of the word pupil, a word attested late in French, in 1615, and first of all in the feminine, actually relates to agriculture. “
To make a good pupil
” is, in fact, to know how to make plants or animals grow, hence the pupil of melon or that of horses.
Certainly, when it comes to animals today, we would use the word breeding, which is, in fact, only attested in 1836 in our language.
The pupil of a tree or of an animal remains, in reality, completely in conformity with its etymological origin, the Latin verb levare, at the same time "to
relieve
" and "to
make less heavy
", thus allowing to rise. .
We will therefore beware of possible confusion in our readings:
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