chromatique

Forms

chromatique (plural chromatiques)^[1] Middle French cromatique;^[2] cromaticque in 1630.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin chrōmaticus (“chromatic”), first as a term of music,^[4][5][1] from Ancient Greek χρωματικός (khrōmatikós, “relating to colour”), from χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour, musical tone”).^[4][5][6][1] The DMF links it to the FEW's article on the Greek noun.^[2] The Greek adjective, properly “relating to colour”, was used only figuratively, of the ornaments of style;^[3] Rey notes that the Greek noun had the specialized sense “musical tone” and named the kind of composition that moves by semitones.^[7]

For the sense “relating to colour”, recorded from 1630, the TLFi takes the word directly from Greek.^[3] Littré gives two headwords for the colour and the music senses.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in music, in Nicole Oresme's translation of Aristotle's Politics (about 1372–1374), which names the three tetrachords of Boethius as dyatonique et cromatique et enarmonique.^[2][8] Évrart de Conty (about 1400) describes cromatique as one of the three ancient ways of singing.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In 1552 Pontus de Tyard writes of intervalles chromatiques and musique chromatique;^[9] from then on the musical term meant a series of notes moving by semitones.^[2][8] In the 17th century the feminine noun la chromatique meant soft, languid music (Molière, 1659), and Furetière (1690) has a masculine noun for the character of such music.^[8]

The sense “relating to colours” is first recorded in 1630, in Agrippa d'Aubigné's Les Aventures du baron de Fæneste;^[3][10] a feminine noun also named the part of optics dealing with colours.^[3] In the 20th century biology used it for the chromosomes,^[10] and linguistics has accent chromatique “pitch accent” (early 20th century).^[8] The English word chromatic is recorded from about 1600 as a term of music.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1372 – Oresme uses cromatique of one of the ancient tetrachords.^[2]
• c. 1400 – Évrart de Conty describes cromatique singing.^[2]
• 1552 – Pontus de Tyard writes of musique chromatique; he also has the adverb chromatiquement.^[9][3]
• c. 1600 – English chromatic appears as a term of music.^[11]
• 1630 – Agrippa d'Aubigné uses cromaticque of colour.^[3]
• 1659 – Molière uses la chromatique for languid music.^[8]
• early 20th century – Accent chromatique appears in linguistics.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (music) Moving by successive semitones, as opposed to diatonique: gamme chromatique.^[10][6][12]
2. (ancient music) Of the genus that divides the tetrachord into two semitones and a minor third.^[6][13]
3. (didactic) Relating to colours: vision chromatique, the perception of colours.^[10][14]
4. (biology) Relating to the chromosomes: réduction chromatique, meiosis.^[10]
5. (linguistics) Accent chromatique: a pitch accent, as opposed to a stress accent.^[8]

Noun

1. (dated, optics) The branch of optics dealing with colours and the dispersion of light.^[3]

Word family

• chromatiquement

Related words

• chrome
• chromatisme
• achromatique
• monochromatique
• panchromatique
• Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma)

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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
4. ^ a b 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. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
13. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
14. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)