Etymologically
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film

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Pronunciation

Forms

film m (plural films)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English film (“membrane, skin; thin layer”), from Old English filmen, used in English photography since 1845 for the coating of gelatine on a plate, and about 1880 for the roll film used in instant photography and then in cinema.[2][3][4][5][6] Rey compares Old High German fel (“skin”), Old Norse fjall, Latin pellis (“skin”) and Ancient Greek πέλμα (pélma, “sole”), usually connected with a root “*pel-” “to cover”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1889 in Balagny's Traité de photographie, in papier American film, meaning a strip of film for instant photography.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

In 1896 it was applied to cinema film, and by metonymy to the developed film carrying a cinematographic work (Méliès's catalogue, 1896–1897); the sense “a film, a work of cinema” is dated 1896 by Rey and 1912 by the TLFi.[2][3][4] From 1922 it also meant figuratively a sequence of events, and recently ne rien comprendre au film “not to understand what is going on”.[3]

Taken again from English, it came to mean a thin layer of a substance: the TLFi dates this to 1931, but a coat of car paint is called a film in 1927 and dental film is advertised in 1933.[2][7] Feuil has been proposed as a French equivalent.[3] The verb filmer dates from 1908, and microfilm from 1931.[4][3]

Timeline

  • 1889 – Photographic film.[2]
  • 1896 – Cinema film.[2][4]
  • 1908 – The verb filmer.[4]
  • 1912 – “A film, a work of cinema”.[2]
  • 1922 – Figuratively, a sequence of events.[3]
  • 1927 – A thin layer.[7]
  • 1931 – Microfilm.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Photographic film.[8][9]
  2. Cinema film: un film de 35 mm.[8]
  3. A film, a movie: tourner un film, un film en version originale.[8][9]
  4. Cinema as an art: festival du film.[9]
  5. (figurative) The course of events: le film des événements, (familiar) ne rien comprendre au film.[3]
  6. A thin layer, coating: un film protecteur.[9][3]
  7. cling film: film alimentaire.[9]

Word family

  • filmer
  • filmique
  • filmographie
  • microfilm

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 18, 61b
  7. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
  8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  9. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)