Etymologically
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chrome

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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]
  • 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