Etymologically
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crayon

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /kʁɛ.jɔ̃/[1]
  • IPA: /kʁe.jɔ̃/[1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): /kɾe.jɔ̃/[1]
  • IPA (Louisiana): /kɾi.jɔ̃/[1]

Forms

crayon m (plural crayons)[1] Croion (1309), créon (the usual spelling in the 16th and 17th centuries); crayon from 1611 in Cotgrave and fixed by 1704.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from French craie + -on,[5][6][2][4][1] from Latin crēta (“chalk, clay”).[6][1][7] Cognate with Italian creta and Spanish greda, which kept the sense “clay” as well as “chalk”.[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1309 croion named a kind of chalky soil.[2][3][6]

Semantic evolution

In 1528 créon is a stick of chalk-like material for drawing and writing,[2][3][6] and the word came to cover all such sticks of coloured minerals, then the wooden pencil with a graphite lead.[3][4] In the 16th century it also meant a sketch or outline: Montaigne writes of painting black and white “with the same creon”.[9][3]

Further senses are a pencil drawing, an artist's manner (un crayon large), and in medicine a stick of caustic (1833).[9][10] The verb crayonner “to sketch” is from 1584.[6]

Timeline

  • 1309 – Croion, a chalky earth.[2][3]
  • 1528 – Créon, a stick for drawing.[2][3]
  • 1584 – Crayonner.[6]
  • 1611 – The spelling crayon in Cotgrave.[3]
  • 1676 – Porte-crayon.[6]
  • 1704 – Crayon becomes the standard spelling.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A pencil.[4][1]
  2. A stick of coloured material for drawing: crayon de couleur, crayon pastel.[4][11]
  3. A drawing in pencil or chalk.[9][4]
  4. (medicine, cosmetics) A stick of a substance: crayon hémostatique, crayon khôl.[1][10]
  5. (soil science) A light, chalky soil, as in Champagne.[12]

Word family

  • crayonnage
  • crayonner
  • crayonneur
  • porte-crayon
  • taille-crayon

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 2, 1330b
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
  12. ^ 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