sceller

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French sceller, from Old French seeler, from Vulgar Latin *sigellāre, from Latin sigillāre (“to seal”), from sigillum (“seal”). See sceau. Compare also Catalan segellar, Spanish sellar, Portuguese selar, Italian suggellare.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɛ.le/ ~ /se.le/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: seller

Verb

sceller

1. (transitive) to seal (place a seal on)
2. (transitive) to seal (fasten something to prevent its being opened)
3. (transitive) to seal (close securely)
4. (transitive, figurative) to seal, guarantee
5. (transitive) to seal (fix to a wall)
6. (transitive, Quebec) to mortar

Conjugation

Conjugation of sceller (see also Appendix:French verbs)

infinitive	simple	sceller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle or gerund1	simple	scellant /sɛ.lɑ̃/ or /se.lɑ̃/
	compound	ayant + past participle
past participle		scellé /sɛ.le/ or /se.le/
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		je (j’)	tu	il, elle, on	nous	vous	ils, elles
(simple tenses)	present	scelle /sɛl/	scelles /sɛl/	scelle /sɛl/	scellons /sɛ.lɔ̃/ or /se.lɔ̃/	scellez /sɛ.le/ or /se.le/	scellent /sɛl/
	imperfect	scellais /sɛ.lɛ/ or /se.lɛ/	scellais /sɛ.lɛ/ or /se.lɛ/	scellait /sɛ.lɛ/ or /se.lɛ/	scellions /sɛ.ljɔ̃/ or /se.ljɔ̃/	scelliez /sɛ.lje/ or /se.lje/	scellaient /sɛ.lɛ/ or /se.lɛ/
	past historic2	scellai /sɛ.le/ or /se.le/	scellas /sɛ.la/ or /se.la/	scella /sɛ.la/ or /se.la/	scellâmes /sɛ.lam/ or /se.lam/	scellâtes /sɛ.lat/ or /se.lat/	scellèrent /sɛ.lɛʁ/ or /se.lɛʁ/
	future	scellerai /sɛl.ʁe/	scelleras /sɛl.ʁa/	scellera /sɛl.ʁa/	scellerons /sɛl.ʁɔ̃/	scellerez /sɛl.ʁe/	scelleront /sɛl.ʁɔ̃/
	conditional	scellerais /sɛl.ʁɛ/	scellerais /sɛl.ʁɛ/	scellerait /sɛl.ʁɛ/	scellerions /sɛ.lə.ʁjɔ̃/ or /se.lə.ʁjɔ̃/	scelleriez /sɛ.lə.ʁje/ or /se.lə.ʁje/	scelleraient /sɛl.ʁɛ/
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior2	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que je (j’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	scelle /sɛl/	scelles /sɛl/	scelle /sɛl/	scellions /sɛ.ljɔ̃/ or /se.ljɔ̃/	scelliez /sɛ.lje/ or /se.lje/	scellent /sɛl/
	imperfect2	scellasse /sɛ.las/ or /se.las/	scellasses /sɛ.las/ or /se.las/	scellât /sɛ.la/ or /se.la/	scellassions /sɛ.la.sjɔ̃/ or /se.la.sjɔ̃/	scellassiez /sɛ.la.sje/ or /se.la.sje/	scellassent /sɛ.las/ or /se.las/
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect2	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	scelle /sɛl/	—	scellons /sɛ.lɔ̃/ or /se.lɔ̃/	scellez /sɛ.le/ or /se.le/	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way: past historic → present perfect past anterior → pluperfect imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive (Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Related terms

• sceau

Further reading

• “sceller”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French seeler.

Verb

sceller

1. to seal (e.g. a letter)

Conjugation

• Middle French conjugation varies from one text to another. Hence, the following conjugation should be considered as typical, not as exhaustive.

Conjugation of sceller

infinitive	simple	sceller
	compound	avoir + past participle
present participle1 or gerund2	simple	scellant
	compound	present participle or gerund of avoir + past participle
past participle		scellé
		singular			plural
		first	second	third	first	second	third
indicative		ie (i’)	tu	il, elle	nous	vous	ilz, elles
(simple tenses)	present	scelle	scelles	scelle	scellons	scellez	scellent
	imperfect	scellois, scelloys	scellois, scelloys	scelloit, scelloyt	scellions, scellyons	scelliez, scellyez	scelloient, scelloyent
	past historic	scella	scellas	scella	scellasmes	scellastes	scellerent
	future	scellerai, scelleray	scelleras	scellera	scellerons	scellerez	scelleront
	conditional	scellerois, scelleroys	scellerois, scelleroys	scelleroit, scelleroyt	scellerions, scelleryons	scelleriez, scelleryez	scelleroient, scelleroyent
(compound tenses)	present perfect	present indicative of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect indicative of avoir + past participle
	past anterior	past historic of avoir + past participle
	future perfect	future of avoir + past participle
	conditional perfect	conditional of avoir + past participle
subjunctive		que ie (i’)	que tu	qu’il, qu’elle	que nous	que vous	qu’ilz, qu’elles
(simple tenses)	present	scelle	scelles	scelle	scellons	scellez	scellent
	imperfect	scellasse	scellasses	scellast	scellassions	scellassiez	scellassent
(compound tenses)	past	present subjunctive of avoir + past participle
	pluperfect	imperfect subjunctive of avoir + past participle
imperative		–	tu	–	nous	vous	–
simple		—	scelle	—	scellons	scellez	—
compound		—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	simple imperative of avoir + past participle	—
1 The present participle was variable in gender and number until the 17th century (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], Une esthétique nouvelle: Honoré d'Urfé, correcteur de l'Astrée, p. 179). The French Academy would eventually declare it not to be declined in 1679.
2 The gerund was held to be invariable by grammarians of the early 17th century, and was usable with preposition en, as in Modern French, although the preposition was not mandatory (Anne Sancier-Château [1995], op. cit., p. 180).

Descendants

• French: sceller

References

• sceller on Dictionnaire du Moyen Français (1330–1500) (in French)