Etymology
1. "make filthy," c.1280, from O.Fr.
defouler "trample down, violate," from
de- "down" +
fouler "to tread," from L.
fullo "person who cleans and thickens cloth by stamping on it." Sense infl. by
foul (q.v.); spelling infl. by obsolete native
befile, which it replaced and which meant about the same thing.
2. From Late Middle English defilen (“to make dirty, befoul; to contaminate (the body or an organ) with dirt or disease; to pollute morally or spiritually; to desecrate, profane; to violate (the sanctity of marriage, an agreement or oath, etc.); to rape; to slander; to abuse; to destroy; to injure; to treat unfairly, oppress”) [and other forms], a variant of defoulen (“to make dirty, defile, pollute; to contaminate (the body or an organ) with dirt or disease; to pollute morally or spiritually; to desecrate, profane; to violate (the sanctity of marriage, an agreement or oath, etc.); to have sexual intercourse with; to rape; etc.”) (compare also defoilen). Defoulen is derived from Old French defouler (“to trample; to oppress; to outrage; to pollute; to violate”), from de- (prefix indicating actions are done more strongly or vigorously) + fouler (“to trample, tread on; to mistreat, oppress”), foler (“to destroy; to mistreat”) (from Vulgar Latin fullare (“to full (make cloth denser and firmer by soaking, beating, and pressing)”), from Latin fullō (“person who fulls cloth, fuller”); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to blow; to inflate, swell; to bloom, flower”) or Etruscan 𐌘𐌖𐌋𐌖 (φulu)). The English word is analysable as de- (intensifying prefix) + file (“(archaic) to corrupt; to defile”).
3. The Middle English word defilen was probably formed from defoulen on the analogy of befilen (“to make dirty, befoul; to corrupt; to violate one's chastity; to desecrate; to slander”) and befoulen (“to make dirty, befoul; to violate one's chastity; to vilify”), respectively from filen (“to make foul, impure, or unclean, pollute; to pollute morally or spiritually; to desecrate, profane; to have sexual intercourse with; to rape; etc.”) and foulen (“to make dirty, pollute; to become dirty; to defecate; to deface or deform; to pollute morally or spiritually; to damage, injure; to destroy; to treat unfairly, oppress; to tread on, trample”). Filen and foulen are respectively from Old English fȳlan (“to befoul, defile, pollute”) and fūlian (“to foul”), both from Proto-West Germanic *fūlijan (“to make dirty, befoul”), from Proto-Germanic *fūlijaną (“to make dirty, befoul”), from *fūlaz (“dirty, foul; rotten”), from Proto-Indo-European *puH- (“foul; rotten”).
4. Cognates
5. * Dutch bevuilen (“to defile, soil”) See: Latin '
fullō', Proto-Germanic '
*fūlijaną', Dutch '
bevuilen'.
Verbs referencing "defile"
Swedish, all forms
defilera.