angle

Forms

angle m (plural angles)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French angle, inherited from Latin angulus (“corner; angle”).^[2][3][1][4] Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin word is certainly popular only in Romanian unghi, and that Italian angolo and the French word may have been taken again from Latin.^[5]

Rey connects the Latin noun with Ancient Greek ἀγκών (ankṓn, “elbow”) and, like ἄγκυρα (ánkura, “anchor”), with an Indo-European stem expressing curvature; it corresponds to ἀγκύλος (ankúlos, “bent, crooked”) and Old Armenian անկիւն (ankiwn, “corner”), and is akin to uncus (“hook”).^[2]

Compare Old Occitan angle and Spanish ángulo.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Livre des Rois (about 1170) for the corners of Jerusalem, where altars were set up: par tuz les angles de Jerusalem.^[6][2][7] The first sense was concrete, the corner of a building or a street.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Old French also used angle for a narrow space, a nook (12th–14th centuries), a sense it later gave up to coin.^[2] It was used abstractly from 1370, by Oresme, and became a word of geometry with angle droit (1377), obtus (1542) and aigu (1585, after Rabelais's angle acut).^[2]

Fortification added angle mort (1690), optics angle d'incidence and de réflexion (Descartes, 1637), and cinema and photography angle de champ (1948).^[2] In ordinary speech, sous un certain angle (1898) and sous l'angle de (about 1920) mean “from a certain point of view”, and arrondir les angles (mid-20th century) “to smooth things over”.^[2] The French derivatives have mostly fallen out of use; angulaire is a learned adjective based on angulāris.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – Angle in the Livre des Rois.^[2][6]
• 1370 – Abstract use, in Oresme.^[2]
• 1377 – Angle droit; the adjective angulaire.^[2]
• 1542 – Angle obtus.^[2]
• 1585 – Angle aigu.^[2]
• 1637 – Descartes's angle d'incidence.^[2]
• 1690 – Angle mort in fortification.^[2]
• 1898 – Sous un certain angle.^[2]
• 1948 – Angle de champ in cinema and photography.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A corner, the projecting or re-entrant place where two lines or surfaces meet: la maison qui fait l'angle, un meuble d'angle.^[8][1] À l'angle de: on the corner of.^[8][1]
2. (figurative) A sharp side of someone's character.^[8] Arrondir les angles: to smooth things over.^[8][2]
3. (geometry) An angle, the figure formed by two lines or planes that meet: angle droit, aigu, obtus.^[8][7]
4. A point of view, an aspect: sous l'angle de, from the point of view of.^[8][1]
5. Angle mort: a blind spot.^[2][8]

Related words

• coin
• angulaire
• triangle
• rectangle
• Latin angulus

Usage notes

Angle with a capital is the name of a member of the Angles, the Germanic people, from Latin Anglus.^[3][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 570b
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert