forme
Pronunciation
- IPA: /fɔʁm/[1]
Forms
forme f (plural formes)[1] In the Middle Ages also fourme, furme.[2][3][4]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Latin fōrma (“mould; shape, form; beauty”).[5][6][4][7] Rey and the Petit Robert note that the Latin word seems linked to Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “shape”) by a metathesis, perhaps borrowed through Etruscan.[6][8] Wiktionary treats it as inherited through Old French.[1] The popular form of the same word survives in fromage, cheese shaped in a mould, and in fourme, through Provençal.[8]
Cognate with Romanian formă, Italian forma, Spanish forma and German Form.[8]
Earliest recorded meaning
Its first record (late 11th century, in Rashi's glosses) is technical: the last on which shoes are made.[5][6][3] Philippe de Thaon (1119) has it for the visible shape of a thing.[5]
Semantic evolution
In the 12th century it meant the features that make a being recognizable (Wace, 1155), and en forme de “in the shape of” is in Benoît de Sainte-Maure (about 1165).[5] As in Latin, it named things that shape others or have a characteristic shape: a bench (about 1200), a hare's form (about 1330), a dry dock (1386), a printer's forme (1549), a hat block (1636), whence haut-de-forme.[5][6]
Abstract senses came from scholastic Latin: the philosophical form (1270), a way of proceeding (1280), and the way a thought is expressed (14th century).[5][6][4] In law it is the outward shape of an act (1549), whence en bonne et due forme (1700) and sans autre forme de procès (1585); in the plural les formes are good manners.[6][5] From racing (Le Sport, 1862) came être en forme, en pleine forme.[5][9]
Timeline
- Late 11th century – A shoemaker's last, in Rashi's glosses.[5]
- 1119 – Visible shape, Philippe de Thaon.[5]
- c. 1165 – En forme de.[5]
- 1270 – The philosophical form.[5]
- 1549 – A printer's forme.[5]
- 1585 – Sans autre forme de procès.[5]
- 1636 – Forme de chapeau.[5]
- 1862 – Physical condition, of a racehorse.[5][9]
Meanings
Noun
- shape, form; outline: en forme de cœur, prendre forme.[1][8]
- A figure, a silhouette seen indistinctly, (plural) the curves of the body.[6]
- A kind, type, variety: une forme de gouvernement, (grammar) la forme du pluriel.[6][1]
- The way something is expressed or presented, opposed to the content: la forme et le fond.[6][5]
- (law) The outward form of an act: vice de forme, en bonne et due forme, (plural) good manners: y mettre les formes.[1][6]
- Physical or mental condition: être en forme, en pleine forme.[5][1]
- A mould; a shoemaker's last; a hat block.[5][6]
Word family
- plate-forme
- reformer
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 713b
- ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF