empreinte

Forms

empreinte f (plural empreintes)^[1] Old French emprainte;^[2][3] Middle French also emprunte.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is the feminine past participle, used as a noun, from French empreindre (“to imprint”).^[4][5][2] The verb comes from Vulgar Latin *impremere, a popular form of Latin imprimō (“to press upon, imprint”) remade on the simple verb premō (“to press”);^[6][5][1] the TLFi derives it straight from the classical verb.^[4][7] Bloch and Wartburg explain the infinitive as an alteration of an older *empriembre after the verbs in ⟨-eindre⟩ such as craindre.^[6] The learned imprimer is a doublet of the verb.^[1]

The noun was borrowed into Italian as imprenta, later impronta, and into Spanish and Old Occitan as emprenta and emprenta.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, about 1200, is empreinte de la munee in Chardry's Set dormanz, a figure stamped by pressure on a coin.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From the start the word meant a shape or mark left by pressing one body onto another, as the stamp of a seal or of a coin die;^[4][5] Joinville speaks of the impression of a broken seal.^[3] The trace of a foot on the ground is recorded about 1354 in the hunting treatise Modus.^[8][3] In Old and Middle French it could also mean a blow or shock.^[3]

The figurative sense of a deep and lasting mark left on a mind or a work dates from 1605, in Malherbe.^[4][5] The technical empreintes digitales “fingerprints” appears in 1905, in Testut's treatise of anatomy,^[4] and the term made the word common in its literal sense.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Empreinte de la munee in Chardry's Set dormanz.^[4]
• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun uses the form emprainte.^[8][6]
• c. 1354 – The Modus uses it for a footprint.^[8][3]
• 1605 – Malherbe uses it figuratively.^[4][5]
• 1905 – Empreintes digitales “fingerprints” is recorded.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mark, hollow or in relief, left by a body pressed on a surface: the impression of a seal, a coin die or a key.^[9][4]
2. A dental or typographic mould: le dentiste prend une empreinte (the dentist takes an impression).^[9][8]
3. A trace left by contact, especially a footprint or the track of an animal.^[9][4]
4. Empreinte digitale: a fingerprint.^[4][5]
5. (figurative) A deep and lasting mark left by an influence.^[4][5]

Related words

• empreindre
• imprimer
• Latin imprimō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d 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. 4, 603b
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert