écho

Forms

écho m (plural échos)^[1] Old French equo (1225–1230, as the nymph's name) and eqo.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin ēchō (“echo, reflected sound”), which is from Ancient Greek ἠχώ (ēkhṓ, “sound, echo, rumour”).^[2][5][6][7] Rey notes that the Greek word has no exact counterpart in the other Indo-European languages.^[5] The form equo is found once, about 1225–1230, as the name of the nymph Echo in Guillaume de Lorris's part of the Roman de la Rose; the common noun dates from 1279.^[2][5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1279, in a text of Frère Laurent, it means a sound sent back by a surface that reflects it.^[2][5] Littré quotes a 13th-century line in which eqo answers in the tower the blows struck round about.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In the 17th century the word was used figuratively of a person who repeats what others say (1661, Corneille), whence the phrases faire écho à and se faire l’écho de.^[2][5] By analogy it named, in poetry, a verse whose syllables repeat a word as if answering (1680), and in music the repetition of a note (1690).^[2][5] In 1690 Furetière also records it for the place where an echo is heard.^[2]

From 1687 it meant a reproduction or imitation, and, from the mid-18th century what is repeated by someone; in journalism the échos of a paper are its short news items and gossip (1860), which gave échotier, the writer of such items (1866).^[2][5][6] Physics extended the word to any reflected wave, as in radar and ultrasound.^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1225–1230 – Equo names the nymph in the Roman de la Rose.^[2][5]
• 1279 – First recorded as a reflected sound.^[2][5]
• 1661 – Corneille uses it for a person who repeats something.^[2][5]
• 1680 – Richelet records the poem with echoing syllables.^[2]
• 1687 – Mme de Sévigné uses it for a reproduction or imitation.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the musical sense and the place where an echo is heard.^[2]
• 1860 – The Goncourts use it for newspaper items.^[2][5]
• 1866 – Échotier is recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. An echo, the repetition of a sound reflected by an obstacle, or the sound so repeated;^[8][1] en écho, repeating.^[8][1]
2. A place where an echo can be heard.^[2][4]
3. (physics) A wave reflected back, as used in radar and ultrasound.^[8][2]
4. (figurative) A person who repeats what another says;^[2][5] se faire l’écho de, to pass on, faire écho à, to answer or repeat.^[2][5]
5. A reproduction, imitation or response; a rumour: Les échos de la fête sont arrivés jusqu’au village.^[2][1]
6. (journalism, usually plural) Short news items or gossip in a newspaper.^[2][5]
7. (poetry, music) The repetition of a word's last syllables, or of a note.^[2][5]

Word family

• échotier

Related words

• Latin ēchō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 204b
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert