English
foulage
Foulage comes from French foulage ‘pressing, crushing’, from fouler ‘to stamp, to impress, to dent’, and perhaps ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- ‘to inflate, blow, swell’.
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₃-1‘to inflate, blow, swell’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfullō2‘fuller’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*fullāre2‘to trample, to full’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400foler2‘to crush, act wickedly’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600fouller2‘to trample, mill, fordo, mistreat’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfouler3‘to stamp, to impress, to dent’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfoulage4‘pressing, crushing’
- Englishearliest quotation 2014foulage4
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor
- 1 Wiktionary, Latin fullo
- 2 Wiktionary, French fouler
- 3 Wiktionary, French foulage
- 4 Wiktionary, English foulage
- Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2014, Lyubomyr Yatsyk: “After stroking you should switch to foulage moving up…”.
Lineage
- Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*bʰleh₃-Wiktionary, Latin fullo‘to inflate, blow, swell’uncertain
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEfullōWiktionary, French fouler‘fuller’
- Vulgar Latinc. 100–700 CE*fullāreWiktionary, French fouler‘to trample, to full’reconstructed
- Old Frenchc. 842–1400folerWiktionary, French fouler‘to crush, act wickedly’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600foullerWiktionary, French fouler‘to trample, mill, fordo, mistreat’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfoulerWiktionary, French foulage‘to stamp, to impress, to dent’
- Frenchc. 1600–presentfoulageWiktionary, English foulage‘pressing, crushing’
- Englishearliest quotation 2014foulageWiktionary, English foulage. Earliest quotation in Wiktionary’s entry: 2014, Lyubomyr Yatsyk: “After stroking you should switch to foulage moving up…”
Linked words
through Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- ‘to inflate, blow, swell’
blood, blow, flower, bless, blade, bloom, floral, bleed, flora, blossom, flourish, folly, ferret, florist, fleur, folio, flor, folic, belladonna, exfoliate, trefoil, 53 more
through Latin fullō ‘fuller’
through Old French foler ‘to crush, act wickedly’
through French fouler ‘to stamp, to impress, to dent’
Today it means
noun A form of massage involving kneading and pressure against the muscles.
Sources
Sources: Wiktionary, “foulage”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entries for Latin fullo, French fouler, French foulage. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.
Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- / foulage