Etymologically
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angle

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Pronunciation

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]

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