chrome

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kʁom/^[1]

Forms

chrome m (uncountable)^[1] Crome in music (1562); chrôme (1797).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek χρῶμα (khrôma, “colour of the skin; colour; ornament of style; chromatic music”),^{[2][3][4][5][1][6]} through Latin chrōma according to Rey and the Petit Robert,^[3][7] derived from χρώς (khrṓs, “skin; complexion”), of unknown origin.^[3] The metal was so named because its compounds have bright colours.^[2][5][8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

Maurice Scève (1562) uses crome in music for a sharp, a sense revived in 1832 and called old from 1842.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The technical senses taken from Greek, the musical “sharp” and the rhetorical “figure of style” (1753), did not last.^[3][2] In 1797 the chemist Vauquelin adopted chrôme, proposed by Haüy, for the hard, shining greyish-white metal he had isolated, with chromate and chromique.^[2][3][4]

In the 20th century les chromes became the chromium-plated parts of a car or bicycle, and chromé an everyday word^[3][8][7]; chromer is from 1927.^[3][8][7] The Greek word also gave the element chromo- of chromolithographie (1837), shortened to chromo.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 1562 – Crome “sharp” in music (Scève).^[2][5]
• 1753 – A figure of rhetoric (Encyclopédie).^[2][3]
• 1797 – The metal (Vauquelin, after Haüy); chromate.^[2][3]
• 1835 – First recorded by the Académie.^[2]
• 1927 – Chromer, chromage.^[3]
• 20th century – Les chromes of a car.^[8][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) Chromium, a hard, shining, rust-resistant metal (symbol Cr).^[7][1]
2. A chromium-plated part, especially of a car: faire briller les chromes.^[7][8]

Related words

• chromatique
• chromo
• English chrome

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 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 j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
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 c 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. 2, 656a
7. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette