graver

Forms

graver^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Frankish *graban (“to dig”).^{[2][3][4][5][6]} The Frankish verb goes back to Proto-Germanic *grabaną.^[1] Cognate with German graben (“to dig”)^[3][5] and Dutch graven,^[7] and akin to the English noun grave (“burial pit”).^[1]

How and when the modern sense “to engrave” spread is hard to establish, as the TLFi notes after the FEW.^[2] Bloch and Wartburg find it first in the derivative graveur in the 14th century,^[5] and the compound regraver is recorded in 1346.^[2][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Around 1200 it meant “to part the hair”, to make a parting in it.^[2][3][4][5] From this sense came Old French greve “parting of the hair”, which was replaced by raie¹ at the end of the 17th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

The sense “to cut lines or figures into a hard material” is recorded in 1475, in royal accounts quoted by Laborde, though the compound regraver shows it was older.^[2][3][8] Littré quotes the 1475 text: faire escrire et graver en lettres esmaillées “to have written and engraved in enamelled letters”.^[7]

Figurative uses followed: “to make something last in someone's heart or memory” before 1558, in Mellin de Saint-Gelais,^[2][3][9] and “to make manifest” in 1636.^[2][3] About 1650 the verb was specialised in printmaking, “to cut a design or text into a plate in order to reproduce it”, whence graver une médaille and “to reproduce by engraving”.^[3][8] By analogy it was applied to records in the mid-20th century,^[3] and today to burning data onto a CD or DVD with a laser.^[10][1] The participle gravé gave the phrase gravé dans le marbre, said of something fixed for good and not to be changed.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – First recorded, meaning “to part the hair”.^[2][4]
• 1346 – The compound regraver points to the sense “to engrave”.^[2][3]
• 1475 – Graver “to engrave on a hard material” in royal accounts.^[2][7]
• before 1558 – Saint-Gelais uses it figuratively, “to fix in the heart”.^[2][9]
• 1636 – Monet records the sense “to make manifest”.^[2]
• 1640 – Oudin records gravé “pockmarked”.^[2]
• c. 1650 – Used in printmaking, of cutting a plate for reproduction.^[3][8]
• mid-20th century – Graver un disque “to cut a record”.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To engrave: to cut letters or figures into a hard material such as metal, stone or wood with a pointed tool: graver son nom sur une bague.^[10][2]
2. To burn data onto a CD or DVD with a laser.^[10][1]
3. To engrave a design on a plate in order to print copies of it, and so to reproduce by gravure: graver à l'eau-forte.^[10][7]
4. (figurative) To fix lastingly in the mind or heart: ce jour restera gravé dans son cœur.^[10][3]
5. (literary) To make manifest, to stamp the idea of someone or something on a thing.^[2][8]

Word family

• gravure
• graveur
• regraver

Related words

• Frankish *graban

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 16, 48a
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert