cerner

Forms

cerner^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin circinō (“to go round in a circle, to round”), a derivative of circinus (“pair of compasses”), the source of cerne.^[2][3][4] The Grand Robert instead derives the verb from that French noun.^[5] Littré gives the Norman form cêner.^[6]

Cognate with Spanish cercenar (“to clip, cut off”).^[7][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In La Petite Philosophie, from the first third of the 13th century, it means “to surround”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In tree growing it meant to dig a trench round a tree (1273) and to cut a ring round the bark (before 1328), whence cerner des noix, to take green walnuts out of the shell (1403), the sense behind cerneau.^[2][3][7] Bloch and Wartburg find the verb little used before the 16th century.^[7]

The past participle gave les yeux cernés, eyes ringed with dark circles (1694).^[2][3] The commonest modern sense, to surround an enemy, is first found in Canada in 1743–1744 and became current in France later (1798, Académie).^[3][2] Other senses are technical, in the graphic arts (1858) and surgery (1867), from which the verb took the figurative sense “to get round, to grasp (a question or a person)” (1897).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1225 – “To surround” in La Petite Philosophie.^[2][3]
• 1273 – To dig round a tree, in the Établissements de Saint Louis.^[2]
• 1403 – Cerner des noix in Christine de Pisan.^[2]
• 1694 – The Académie records les yeux cernés.^[2]
• 1743–1744 – The military sense, in Canada.^[3]
• 1798 – The Académie records the military sense.^[2][9]
• 1858 – Théophile Gautier uses it in the graphic arts.^[2]
• 1897 – The figurative sense “to get round, grasp”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To surround, to encircle as with a ring.^[10][11]
2. To surround with troops, to besiege; to hem in: la police a cerné l'immeuble.^[10][2]
3. To draw an outline round a figure.^[10][11]
4. (figurative) To define, to pin down: cerner une question.^[10][1]
5. (arboriculture) To dig round a tree, or to cut away a ring of bark.^[2]
6. To take green walnuts out of the shell.^[6][2]

Word family

• cerneau

Related words

• cerne
• cercle
• Latin circinus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 699b
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse