pucele

== Old French == === Etymology === First attested in the 10th century as pulcella, from Vulgar Latin *pūllicella, of disputed origin. Possibly a diminutive of Latin pullus (“young of animals, chick”), or pullus as a contraction of *purulus, from purus (“pure”). Alternatively from Latin puella (“girl”) through a Vulgar Latin root *puellicella. === Noun === pucele oblique singular, f (oblique plural puceles, nominative singular pucele, nominative plural puceles) a young, unmarried woman (by extension) a virgin ==== Descendants ==== Middle French: pucelle French: pucelle → English: pucelle → Italian: pulzella → Yiddish: פּילצל (piltsl) === References === Frédéric Godefroy (1880–1902), “pucele”, in Dictionnaire de l’ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle […], Paris: F[riedrich] Vieweg; Émile Bouillon, →OCLC. pucele on the Anglo-Norman On-Line Hub