estomper

Forms

estomper^[1] An early variant stomper was also in use in the 17th and 18th centuries and has since disappeared.^[2][3] The Grand Robert also records a variant estomber.^[4]

Etymology

It is formed from French estompe (“stump (drawing tool)”) + -er.^[5][4][1] The noun, a roll of paper or leather with a pointed end used to spread chalk or pastel, is probably from Dutch stomp (“stub, stump”), a word that Dutch painters working in France would have used;^[5][2][3] Rey compares German stumpf (“blunt”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb is first found in the art sense “to shade a drawing with the stump” in the Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences (1666–1699, printed 1730) and in Félibien's dictionary of the arts (1676).^[5][3]

Semantic evolution

From the painter's technique of softening a line or a mass of colour, the verb came to mean “to make less distinct, to blur”.^[3][5] This figurative sense first shows in the past participle used as an adjective, estompé, in the 18th century, and in the active verb in 1836, when Balzac writes of horizons estompés.^[3][5] The GLLF dates the sense “to blur the outlines of a thing under an even shadow” to Victor Hugo in 1840.^[6]

At the end of the 19th century the verb also came to mean “to soften, to tone down” a memory or a feeling;^[3] the GLLF dates this sense to the Larousse of 1870.^[6] In this sense the reflexive s'estomper “to fade, to grow dim” is the more common form;^[3] the GLLF finds it in Nerval before 1854.^[6] The noun estompage, the action of shading or softening, follows in 1860, and figuratively in 1867.^[5][3]

Timeline

• 1666–1699 – First record, in the art sense, in the Mémoires de l'Académie des sciences.^[5]
• 1676 – Félibien's dictionary records the verb.^[5][6]
• 18th century – The participle estompé is used figuratively for “blurred”.^[3]
• 1836 – Balzac uses the active sense “to blur”.^[5][3]
• before 1854 – Nerval uses the reflexive s'estomper.^[6]
• 1860 – The derivative estompage appears.^[5][3]
• 1870 – The Larousse records the sense “to tone down”.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. (art) To shade or soften a drawing with an estompe (a stump).^[7][8][9]
2. To make less distinct, to blur: la brume estompait les collines.^[7][6][1]
3. (figurative) To make less vivid, to soften or attenuate a memory, a feeling or a contrast.^[7][6]
4. (reflexive) s'estomper: to become blurred, to fade away.^[7][1]

Word family

• estompé
• estompage

Related words

• estompe

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ 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
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette