four

Forms

four m (plural fours)^[1] Old French forn (1080), forz (late 12th century), then four (about 1283).^[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman also furn.^[5]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French forn, inherited from Latin furnus (“oven”).^{[4][2][6][7][1]} Rey relates the Latin word to Ancient Greek θερμός (thermós, “hot”) and traces it to the Indo-European root Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰer- (“heat”);^[2][1] Wiktionary gives the intermediate Proto-Italic *fornos.^[1] Latin also had the form fornus, which some have connected with fornix (“vault”).^[8][3]

Cognate with Italian forno, Occitan forn, Catalan forn, Spanish horno, Portuguese forno and Romanian horn (“chimney”).^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as forn in the Chanson de Roland (1080), in the phrase en un forn ardent, “into a burning oven”, of the three young men in the fiery furnace.^[2][10][3] The TLFi's first record is forz in Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval (1188–1191), of an oven for bread.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The first sense, a vaulted masonry oven for baking bread, gave the four banal (1606), where bread was baked for a fee paid to the lord, and several phrases: noir comme dans un four (15th century), chaud comme dans un four (before 1648) and être au four et au moulin “to be everywhere at once” (1685).^[2][3] Petit four (1803) names small cakes baked in the oven.^[2]

By analogy the word was applied from about 1560 to technical structures for treating materials at high heat, such as the lime kiln (four à chaux, 1564), later in metallurgy and the solar furnace.^[2][4] The enclosed part of a kitchen range is called four from 1833.^[2][4]

In the theatre faire four (1656), later faire un four (1690), first meant to send the audience away and then to fail; from 1872 four alone means a flop.^[2][8] The comedian La Grange, who kept the accounts of Molière's company, used it of a failed play in 1659.^[4][2] The phrase probably comes from putting out the candles when the house was too thin, leaving the hall as dark as an oven;^[7][2] Esnault linked it instead with the slang sense of éclairer “to pay”: an empty hall is not “lit”, it brings in no money.^[2]

Timeline

• 1080 – Forn appears in the Chanson de Roland.^[2][3]
• 1188–1191 – Chrétien de Troyes's Perceval has forz, an oven for bread.^[4]
• c. 1283 – The form four is used by Beaumanoir.^[3][2]
• Mid-15th century – Noir comme dans un four appears in the Quinze Joies de mariage.^[3][11]
• 1564 – Thierry records four à chaux, a lime kiln.^[4][2]
• 1656 – Faire four is used of a show without an audience.^[2][8]
• 1659 – La Grange uses four of a failed play.^[4]
• 1685 – Être au four et au moulin is recorded.^[2]
• 1692 – Dancourt uses it for a house where recruits were held.^[4]
• 1803 – Petit four is recorded.^[2]
• 1833 – It names the oven of a kitchen range.^[2][3]
• 1872 – Four alone means a flop.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. An oven, especially a vaulted masonry oven for baking bread and pastry.^[4][8][1]
2. The oven of a kitchen stove or a separate cooking appliance: four à micro-ondes.^[4][8][1]
3. (technology) A kiln or furnace for treating materials at high heat: four à chaux.^[4][2]
4. Petit four: a small cake or biscuit served with dessert or at receptions.^[2][1]
5. (familiar) A flop, a complete failure (of a play, a show, a book). Faire un four: to fail.^[8][2][1]

Word family

• enfourner
• fourneau
• fournée
• fournier
• fournil
• défourner
• chaufour

Related words

• fournaise
• Latin furnus

Usage notes

Être au four et au moulin means to be busy in several places at once, and il fait noir comme dans un four that it is pitch-dark.^[2][1] The four banal of the Old Regime was the lord's oven, which the inhabitants had to use for a fee.^[10][2]

The TLFi treats the four where men were held before being forcibly enlisted (1692) as a sense of this word;^[4] Littré gives it a separate entry, for the prisons of Paris such as the Four-l'Évêque, and takes that word from Latin forum (“court of justice”).^[10]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 3, 902b
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
11. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF