lanterne

Forms

lanterne f (plural lanternes)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French lanterne, inherited from Latin lanterna.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The Grand Robert and the GLLF call it a nasalized variant of laterna.^[6][7] Rey takes the Latin word from Ancient Greek λαμπτήρ (lamptḗr, “fire pan, torch, lamp”), perhaps through Etruscan, as the suffix -erna suggests; the Greek word comes from λάμπω (lámpō, “to shine”), whose family also gave lampe.^[4] Littré mentions both the derivation from Greek, preferred by Pott, and an older one from lateō (“to lie hidden”), which he finds difficult.^[8]

Cognate with Italian lanterna, Old Occitan lanterna, Catalan llanterna, Portuguese lanterna and Spanish linterna.^[9][5][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears about 1100 in the Chanson de Roland, already in its usual sense of a box with more or less transparent sides holding a light: Asez i ad lanternes e carbuncles “there are plenty of lanterns and carbuncles”.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

About 1210 Guiot de Provins has vendre vecies por lanternes, the forerunner of prendre des vessies pour des lanternes “to be grossly mistaken”; the phrase was influenced by the plural lanternes “nonsense” (1585), much used from the 16th to the 18th century.^[2][4] The lanterne magique, an early projecting device, is recorded in 1685, and oublier d'éclairer sa lanterne comes from Florian's fable of the monkey showing a magic lantern.^[2][5]

The street lamp (1689) gave the revolutionary sense “gallows” (1789): mettre à la lanterne was to hang someone from a lamp post, as in the refrain les aristocrates à la lanterne.^[2][4] The lamp of a vehicle (1835) has given way to phare, but survives in lanterne rouge, the red lamp on the last vehicle of a convoy, and so the last in a line or ranking.^[4][10]

From the 16th century it took analogical senses: in architecture a gallery from which one sees without being seen (1546) and a glazed dome lighting a building from above (1559), a lantern pinion (1611), and in zoology lanterne d'Aristote (1805, Cuvier), the chewing apparatus of the sea urchin.^[2][4]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The Chanson de Roland mentions lanternes.^[2]
• c. 1210 – Guiot de Provins has vendre vecies por lanternes.^[2][4]
• 1546 – It names a gallery in architecture.^[2][4]
• 1559 – Amyot uses it for a glazed dome on a building.^[2]
• 1585 – Noël du Fail uses the plural for idle talk.^[2]
• 1611 – Cotgrave records it as a pinion of a gear.^[2]
• 1685 – Furetière records lanterne magique.^[2][4]
• 1689 – Mme de Sévigné uses it for a street lamp.^[2]
• 1789 – Mounier uses it for the lamp post as gallows.^[2][4]
• 1835 – Balzac uses it for the lamp of a vehicle.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lantern, a case with transparent or pierced sides that shelters a light: lanterne sourde, whose light can be hidden, lanternes vénitiennes, made of coloured paper.^[10][11][12]
2. (historical) A street lamp: à la lanterne !, the revolutionary cry to hang someone.^[11][10][4]
3. (dated) A lamp of a vehicle, in the plural its sidelights.^[10][4]
4. Lanterne rouge: the red lamp on the last vehicle of a convoy, and (familiar) the last in a line or ranking.^[10][12]
5. Lanterne magique: a magic lantern, an early device projecting painted glass slides.^[10]
6. (architecture) A glazed dome or open turret crowning a building to light it from above.^[10][11]
7. (technical) A lantern pinion, with small parallel bars.^[10][2]

Word family

• lanterner
• lanternier
• lanterneau

Related words

• lampe
• Latin lanterna

Usage notes

Prendre des vessies pour des lanternes is to make a gross blunder, and éclairer la lanterne de quelqu'un to give someone the information he needs to understand.^[10][4]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 166a
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
12. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)