émail

Forms

émail m (plural émaux or émails)^[1] Old French esmal (about 1140) and esmail (1260).^[2][3] Plural émaux.^[4][1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French esmal, borrowed from Frankish *smalt (“enamel”).^[2][3][5][6] The Frankish word is reconstructed from Old High German smelzan (“to melt”); it is related to German Schmelz (“enamel”) and schmelzen (“to melt”).^[2][3][5] Bloch and Wartburg posit a lost *esmalt before that form.^[5] The form esmail was rebuilt on the plural esmauz, since that ending served both nouns in ⟨-al⟩ and nouns in ⟨-ail⟩.^[5][2][3] Medieval Latin had smaltum.^[7][1]

Pierre Guiraud proposed instead Latin maltha (“a kind of bitumen”), through a hypothetical verb Vulgar Latin *exmalthō;^[3][8] Littré already noted that Diez preferred the Germanic source, while Laborde had taken the Latin one.^[7]

Compare Old Occitan esmaut, Italian smalto and Spanish esmalte.^[5][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Esmal is first found about 1140 in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne, for the glaze obtained by vitrification that covers ceramic or metal objects.^[2][3] The Roncevaux has “Et cil vert haume à or et à esmal” (“and that green helmet with gold and enamel”).^[7]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word came to name a piece of goldsmith's work in enamel, chiefly in the plural (about 1430),^[3] and in 1352 an enamelled escutcheon bearing the arms of the king or a town.^[2][3] In the 16th century it was also used for faience and porcelain.^[3]

In poetry, from the early 17th century, émail was the bright colouring of flowers and the countryside.^[3][9] In heraldry (1681) the plural émaux names the tinctures of the shield.^[2][3] By analogy, from 1699, it is the hard substance covering the crown of a tooth.^[3][10]

Timeline

• c. 1140 – Esmal appears in the Pèlerinage de Charlemagne.^[2]
• 1260 – Étienne Boileau's Livre des métiers has esmail.^[2]
• 1352 – It names an enamelled escutcheon.^[2]
• 1636 – Monet records the spelling émail.^[10]
• 1681 – Ménestrier uses it in heraldry.^[2]
• 1699 – It is first used for the enamel of the teeth.^[3][10]

Meanings

Noun

1. enamel, a vitreous coating fused onto metal, ceramics or porcelain to protect or decorate it: émail cloisonné, émail champlevé.^[4][2]
2. A work of art in enamel, chiefly in the plural.^[3][2]
3. The enamel of the teeth.^[3][4]
4. (heraldry) A tincture, in the plural émaux.^[3][1]
5. (literary) The bright colouring of flowers or of nature.^[3][9]

Word family

• émailleur
• émailler
• émaillure

Related words

• émaillage
• Frankish *smalt

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 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 155b
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse