guillotine

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ɡi.jɔ.tin/^[1]

Forms

guillotine f (plural guillotines)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the name of the physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738–1814), who in 1789 urged the use of a beheading machine to shorten the sufferings of the condemned.^[2][3][4][5] The machine itself was perfected by the surgeon Antoine Louis and was at first also called louisette or louison;^[3][6] similar devices had been used in Italy since the 16th century.^[3][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Satirical papers already joked about “guillotines” in December 1789, while Guillotin's proposal was being debated.^[7] The TLFi dates the word to 1790, in the royalist Actes des apôtres.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The word became one of the emblems of the Terror, and after the Revolution remained the symbol of the death penalty in France until its abolition.^[3] By metonymy it named the punishment itself from 1872.^[3][5] From the shape and movement of the blade come fenêtre à guillotine, a sash window (1830), and other sliding devices such as a cutting shear.^[3][8][9]

Timeline

• 1789 – Guillotin's proposal; the name is already used in jest.^[7][3]
• 1790 – Guillotine and the verb guillotiner are recorded.^[2][3][4]
• 1830 – À guillotine “sliding vertically”, as of a window.^[3][8]
• 1872 – Used for the penalty of beheading itself.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A guillotine, the machine for beheading condemned prisoners with a falling blade.^[8][9]
2. (by metonymy) Execution by beheading; the death penalty.^[8][9]
3. Fenêtre à guillotine: a sash window.^[8][10]
4. A shear for cutting sheet material.^[9]

Word family

• guillotiner

Related words

• English guillotine

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
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 d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
10. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale