estompe

Forms

estompe f (plural estompes)^[1]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Dutch stomp (“stump, stub”), a word that Dutch painters working in France would have used.^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The DHLF compares German stumpf (“blunt”), from which Littré derived it.^[4][7]

The verb estomper is derived from it; the GLLF takes the sense “drawing made with a stump” as a back-formation from that verb.^[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded between 1666 and 1699, in the Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences, for the artist's stump, a roll of skin or paper used to spread chalk or pastel on a drawing.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it came to mean a drawing made with the stump, recorded by the Académie in 1835 and now dated.^[2][4][5] By analogy Barbey d'Aurevilly used it in 1858 for a light shadow.^[4]

The verb estomper (1676, also stomper into the 18th century) meant to shade with the stump and then to make less distinct, the sense from which s'estomper “to fade” comes.^[3][4] The Petit Robert warns against confusing the word with estampe.^[8]

Timeline

• 1666 – First date given by Bloch and Wartburg and the Grand Robert.^[3][9]
• 1676 – The verb estomper appears in Félibien.^[4][3]
• 1835 – The Académie records the sense “drawing made with a stump”.^[2][5]
• 1858 – Barbey d'Aurevilly uses it for a light shadow.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (art) A stump: a small roll of skin or soft paper with a pointed end, used to blend crayon, fusain or pastel on a drawing: dessin à l'estompe.^[8][10][7]
2. (dated) A drawing made with a stump.^[2][8][11]

Word family

• estomper
• estompage

Related words

• Dutch stomp
• German stumpf

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 17, 246a
7. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale