angulaire

Forms

angulaire (plural angulaires)^[1] Old French anguler, angulere.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin angulāris (“angular, at the corner”), from angulus (“angle, corner”).^[4][5][1][6] Rey calls it a learned remaking of the Old French adjective anguler (13th century), found above all with pierre (“stone”), which was itself taken from the Latin adjective, as in lapis angulāris.^[2][3] It displaced the Old French anglere or angliere (1190), the inherited outcome of the same Latin adjective.^[2][1]

Cognate with Occitan angular and Italian angolare.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Bloch and Wartburg, Rey and the Petit Robert date the adjective to 1377;^[4][2][7] the Grand Robert gives about 1375.^[5] The older form anguler is quoted by Littré from a 13th-century Comput: totes les figures angulers “all the angular figures”.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Besides pierre angulaire (1451), the cornerstone and, figuratively, the element on which a whole rests, the adjective formed learned phrases in anatomy, such as artère angulaire and muscle angulaire (1751) and veine angulaire (1814), some of them also used as nouns.^[2] In mechanics vitesse angulaire “angular velocity” is recorded in 1753.^[2] Littré also records the anatomical dents angulaires, the canines at the angle of the lips, and an astrological sense of the strongest of the twelve houses.^[3]

Timeline

• 1190 – The inherited Old French pierre anglere is recorded.^[2]
• 13th century – The learned form anguler appears.^[2][3]
• 1377 – Angulaire is recorded.^[4][2][7]
• 1451 – Pierre angulaire “cornerstone” is recorded.^[2]
• 1751 – Artère angulaire and muscle angulaire appear in anatomy.^[2]
• 1753 – Vitesse angulaire appears in mechanics.^[2]
• 1814 – Veine angulaire is recorded,^[2] and Nysten records nerf angulaire.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Forming an angle, or having one or more angles: un visage angulaire.^[7][9][10]
2. Pierre angulaire: a cornerstone at the outer corner of a building; figuratively, the fundamental element of something.^[7][9][10]
3. Situated at an angle;^[10][11][3] (anatomy) of nerves, arteries and veins passing at the angle of the eye, and dents angulaires, the canines.^[10][11][3]
4. (geometry, physics) Measured by or relating to an angle: distance angulaire, vitesse angulaire “angular velocity”, accélération angulaire.^[7][10][11]

Noun

1. (anatomy) The angular bone, a dermal bone forming the rear angle of the lower jaw in vertebrates other than mammals.^[9]

Word family

• angulairement

Related words

• angle
• anguleux
• Latin angulus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 24, 570a
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse