charbon

Forms

charbon m (plural charbons)^[1] Old French charbun, Picard and Anglo-Norman carbon.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French charbun, inherited from Latin carbō (“charcoal”).^[5][6][7][8] In Latin the word also meant whatever is left after burning and charcoal for drawing, and in Medieval Latin mineral coal.^[5][6] The learned borrowing of the same Latin word gave its doublet carbone.^[6][1][9]

Cognate with Romanian cărbune, Italian carbone, Catalan carbó, Occitan carbon, Spanish carbón and Portuguese carvão.^[9][10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, in the Cambridge Psalter (early 12th century), is charbuns de fou, translating Latin carbones ignis “coals of fire”: embers and charcoal.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the product of burning wood, used as fuel.^[6] As charbon de terre (1251) or alone it named mineral coal, until houille partly took its place in the 19th century; in European French charbon alone now usually means the fuel mined from coal seams, while in African and Réunion French it usually means charcoal.^[5][6] By likeness it also named the charred remains of anything burnt, especially food (about 1200).^[6][5]

A glowing piece of coal gave the phrase être sur des charbons ardents, which recalls the medieval ordeal.^[6] About 1560 medicine took up the Late Latin sense of carbo for an infectious disease, anthrax, named for its colour; it was then used for a disease of plants (1701) and of animals (1792).^[6] As a material made mostly of carbon it became a drawing charcoal (1635), a chemical and medicinal product (charbon animal, 1821) and an electrical conductor (1888).^[5][6]

Aller au charbon “to go to work” is found from 1939;^[6] Simonin traced it to pimps hiding from the police as dockers unloading coal barges around 1900.^[6]

Timeline

• Early 12th century – Charbuns “embers, charcoal” appears in the Cambridge Psalter.^[5]
• Before 1200 – It is used of something burnt to a cinder.^[5]
• 1251 – Charbon de terre “mineral coal” is recorded in Hainaut.^[5][6]
• c. 1560 – It names an infectious disease, anthrax.^[6]
• 1635 – Monet records the drawing charcoal.^[5]
• 1701 – It names a disease of plants.^[6]
• 1794 – The derivative charbonnage is recorded.^[7]
• 1821 – Charbon animal is recorded in pharmacy.^[5]
• 1888 – The electrical sense appears.^[5]
• 1939 – Aller au charbon “to go to work” is first found.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Coal, a black solid fuel;^[9][11][1] charbon de bois is charcoal.^[9][11][1]
2. Un charbon: a piece of coal;^[9][11] charbons ardents are glowing coals: Les saucisses grillaient sur les charbons.^[9][11]
3. Aller au charbon (familiar): to do the hard part of a job, to go to work.^[9][6]
4. A stick of charcoal for drawing.^[5][6]
5. (medicine) Anthrax.^[1][6]
6. (botany) Smut, a fungal disease of cereals.^[1][6]
7. (physics) A carbon rod or electrode.^[5][6]

Word family

• charbonner
• charbonnerie
• charbonneux
• charbonnier
• charbonnière
• charbonnage

Related words

• carbone
• escarboucle
• carbonade
• Latin carbō

Usage notes

Être sur des charbons ardents means to be extremely impatient or anxious.^[6][11]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 354b
9. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
11. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse