instrument

Forms

instrument m (plural instruments)^[1] Old French estrument and estrumanz;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman also enstrument and instrement.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin īnstrūmentum (“furnishings, equipment, tools”),^[2][3][5][6] derived from īnstruō (“to equip, arrange”) (see instruire) with the suffix -mentum.^[2][3][7][8] It was first adapted as estrument (1119), and the learned form replaced it from 1365.^[2][3][8] Bloch and Wartburg date the present form to about 1200, beside the older one in the 13th century, and note that the legal sense too came from Latin.^[5] Rey remarks that the link with the verb is no longer felt.^[3]

Compare Old Occitan estrument, Spanish instrumento and Italian strumento.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1119 as estrument in Philippe de Thaon's Comput, for a manufactured object (a tool, machine or apparatus) used in some operation.^[2][3] The form instrument is found in 1365 in Oresme's treatise on money: Monnoie est l'égal instrument à permuer les Richesses naturelles d'entre les hommes (“money is the equal instrument for exchanging natural riches among men”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

As early as about 1140 (Gaimar) it named an object made to produce music, the instrument de musique.^[2][3][9] In 1265 it took the figurative sense of a legal deed establishing a right or an agreement.^[2][3] In Middle French it also meant a limb or organ of the body (14th century), and in the 15th century the male member.^[3] About 1485 the Mystère du Viel Testament uses it of a person or thing that serves to reach an end: j'estoys l'instrument que Dieu, par son entendement Faisoit mouvoir pour son plaisir (“I was the instrument that God, by his understanding, moved at his pleasure”).^[2][3]

In modern French it is more general than outil and names simpler objects than appareil and machine.^[3][10] Grammar has the complément d'instrument (Brunot, 1922), and Larousse records instruments de bord in 1931.^[9][3] The English word instrument (late 13th century) comes from Old French and directly from Latin.^[11]

Timeline

• 1119 – Estrument in Philippe de Thaon's Comput.^[2][8]
• c. 1140 – Gaimar uses it for a musical instrument.^[2][3]
• 1265 – Estrumanz for a legal document, in the Livre de jostice.^[2][7]
• late 13th century – English instrument is first recorded.^[11]
• 1365 – Oresme writes instrument.^[2][3]
• 1375–1379 – Instrumens de musique in Jean de Brie.^[2]
• c. 1485 – It is used of a person serving as a means to an end.^[2][3]
• 1922 – Brunot uses complément d'instrument.^[9]
• 1931 – Larousse records instruments de bord.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A manufactured object used to carry out a task or operation; a tool, implement, apparatus.^[10][2][12]
2. Instrument de musique, or simply instrument: a musical instrument.^[10][1][2]
3. A person or thing that serves as a means to an end;^[2][1][3] (figurative, literary) a person used as a mere tool.^[2][1][3]
4. (law) A deed or document that establishes a right or an agreement.^[3][2][7]

Word family

• instrumentiste
• instrumental
• instrumentation
• instrumenter

Related words

• instruire
• Latin īnstrūmentum
• English instrument

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 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 o p q r Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
5. ^ a b 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. 4, 726b
7. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)