dessiner

Pronunciation

• IPA: /de.si.ne/^[1]

Forms

dessiner^[1] Middle French designer (1529), desseigner (1552, but older) and dessigner (1556); dessiner from 1664 (Pomey).^[2][3] Desseigner and dessigner were still listed by the Trévoux dictionary in 1771.^[2]

Etymology

It is a remaking of desseigner, borrowed from Italian disegnare (“to draw; to plan”) (13th century, figuratively from the 14th, Petrarch),^[2][3][4] from Latin dēsignō (“to mark out, trace; to designate”),^[2][5] a verb of the family of signum (“sign”).^[6] The Italian verb was adapted on the model of enseigner; the variant dessigner is due to the influence of the Latin word.^[2][3][4] The modern form was made after dessin, on the model of pairs such as chagrin / chagriner, and helped by the change of the group /ɲ/ to /n/ in pronunciation: in the 17th century digne and signe often rhymed with words in ⟨-ine⟩.^[2][3][4] The Grand Robert dates both older forms to 1459.^[5]

It is a doublet of désigner.^[1][7] The Italian verb also gave Portuguese desenhar.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Geoffroy Tory's Champfleury (1529) has designer “to trace the outline of something”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Throughout the 16th century the verb also had the figurative sense, taken from Italian, “to plan, intend”;^[3][4] Ronsard uses desseigner figuratively in 1552.^[2] That sense survives only in dessein, while dessin kept the graphic one: the two nouns were specialized only at the end of the 18th century, and the Académie admitted dessin only in 1798.^[3][4] dessinateur (1667) follows Italian disegnatore.^[4]

The modern verb is recorded by Pomey in 1664 for drawing on paper.^[2][9] The pronominal se dessiner “to take shape, become distinct” is in a French edition of Casanova's memoirs in 1863.^[10][3]

Timeline

• 1529 – Designer in Geoffroy Tory.^[2]
• 1552 – Desseigner, figuratively, in Ronsard.^[2]
• 1556 – Dessigner.^[2]
• 1664 – Dessiner (Pomey).^[2]
• 1667 – Dessinateur.^[4]
• 1771 – Last listing of desseigner and dessigner (Trévoux).^[2]
• 1798 – The Académie admits dessin.^[4]
• 1863 – Se dessiner “to take shape”.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To draw, to represent by drawing: dessiner un paysage, dessiner au crayon, à la plume.^[6][9][1]
2. To design, to draw up plans for.^[1]
3. To outline, bring out the shape of.^[9][2]
4. Se dessiner: to take shape, become distinct, appear gradually.^[1][10][3]

Word family

• dessin
• dessinateur
• redessiner

Related words

• dessein
• désigner
• bande dessinée

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
9. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF