anglé

Forms

anglé (feminine anglée, masculine plural anglés, feminine plural anglées)^[1] Old French anglee, in pierre anglee “corner stone”.^[2] Middle French plural angleis.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from French angle + -é.^[4] The TLFi treats it as the past participle of angler used as an adjective.^[5] The noun is from Latin angulus (“angle, corner”).^[4][6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Godefroy cites Old French pierre anglee “cornerstone”, meaning angular.^[2] The DMF dates the Middle French adjective, “of a corner”, to about 1398 in Hemricourt's account of the wars of Awans, where men cut down the angleis posteaz, the corner posts of a watchtower.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As a term of heraldry it is recorded by Ménestrier in 1673, of a cross or saltire with long pointed figures issuing from its angles: the Maltese cross of the French knights was anglée with four fleurs-de-lis.^[7] Furetière took it up in 1690,^[4][7] and the Académie gave it in 1762 as a heraldic term.^[8] In the 20th century the TLFi also records it in a general technical sense, “formed into an angle”, as of timbering in a mine gallery.^[5] In Walloon the word also named a corner or a dressed corner stone.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1398 – Angleis “corner” is used by Hemricourt.^[3]
• 1673 – Ménestrier defines the heraldic sense.^[7]
• 1690 – Furetière records it.^[4][7]
• 1762 – The Académie lists it as a term of heraldry.^[8]
• 1926 – A manual on quarries uses boisage anglé for angled pit props.^[5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Formed into an angle, angled.^[5][1]
2. (heraldry) Of a cross or saltire: having figures issuing from its angles.^[5][9]

Related words

• angle
• angler
• Latin angulus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
3. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
4. ^ a b c d Hatzfeld, Adolphe; Darmesteter, Arsène; Thomas, Antoine (1890–1900), Dictionnaire général de la langue française du commencement du XVIIe siècle jusqu'à nos jours, Paris: Delagrave
5. ^ a b c d e 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
6. ^ a b Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 572b
7. ^ a b c d Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
8. ^ a b Académie française (1762), Dictionnaire de l'Académie françoise, 4th ed., Paris: Brunet
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette