filmer

Forms

filmer^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French film + -er.^[2][3][1] It is recorded in 1908, in the Ciné-Journal of 10 December.^[2][4]

The noun (1889) is from English film, first “a sheet specially prepared for instant photography” and, from 1896, applied to the cinema.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record (1908) already has the sense “to record views on cinematographic film”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The verb arose with the cinema, as the word for recording a scene with a film camera; the Petit Robert extends it to recording on a magnetic medium, as with a camcorder.^[5][6]

About 1930 a technical sense appeared, “to coat with a thin protective film” (of collodion or celluloid), from the other meaning of the noun film, a thin layer;^[5][7][2] Larousse recorded it in 1930.^[5][7][2]

The verb gave its own derivatives: filmage (1912), filmeur (1917), rare, and filmable (1925).^[5]

Timeline

• 1889 – The noun film is borrowed from English.^[4]
• 1908 – Filmer “to record on film” appears in the Ciné-Journal.^[2][4]
• 1912 – The derivative filmage is recorded.^[5]
• 1925 – Filmable is recorded.^[5]
• c. 1930 – The technical sense “to coat with a film” appears.^[5][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (transitive) To film, to record (a scene, a person) with a film or video camera; also used without an object: Elle a filmé le mariage de sa sœur.^[6][2][1]
2. (technical) To coat with a thin protective layer of plastic or collodion.^[6][7]

Word family

• filmage
• filmable

Related words

• film
• tourner

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
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 Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse