lumière

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ly.mjɛʁ/^[1]

Forms

lumière f (plural lumières)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin lūmināria, the neuter plural of lūmināre (“lamp, light; window”), derived from lūmen (“light”), taken as a feminine singular.^{[2][3][4][5][1]} In Church Latin “luminaria” meant lamps, torches and the heavenly bodies, then “illumination”, and in popular Latin it displaced both classical words for light, lūx and “lūmen”.^[3][4][6] “Lūmen” goes back to the root “*leuk-” “to shine”, which also gave luire and lucide.^[3] Old French also had “lum”.^[4] It is a doublet of luminaire.^[1]

Compare Occitan lumeira, Spanish lumbrera and Italian lumiera.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert records it first in the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) for the mouth of a horn; in the sense “light, daylight” it is in Chrétien de Troyes's Cligès (1176).^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In the first half of the 12th century it was said of God (Cambridge Psalter), and in the 13th century it meant the eyesight and, figuratively, lucidity.^[2] A wax candle was lumiere de cire in the early 13th century, and a lamp or torch in 1260.^[2] From about 1400 it was said of an eminent person, and in 1637 (Corneille) of enlightenment, knowledge, les lumières of a person, their understanding, is Molière's (1665), and Voltaire speaks of les lumières d'un siècle éclairé (1761), whence le siècle des Lumières.^[2] Technical uses include the eye-slit of a helmet (about 1228) and the touch-hole of a gun (1475).^[2] In Quebec les lumières are also traffic lights and headlights.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 1100 – The mouth of a horn, in the Chanson de Roland.^[6]
• 1176 – “Light, daylight”, in Chrétien de Troyes.^[2]
• c. 1225 – “Eyesight”.^[2]
• 1260 – A lamp, in Étienne Boileau.^[2]
• c. 1400 – An eminent person, in Eustache Deschamps.^[2]
• 1538 – Mettre en lumière “to publish”.^[8]
• 1665 – Les lumières “knowledge”, in Molière.^[2]
• 1761 – Les lumières d'un siècle éclairé, in Voltaire.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. light: la lumière du jour, la vitesse de la lumière.^[1][2]
2. A source of light, a lamp: allumer la lumière.^[2]
3. (figurative) Enlightenment, insight: faire la lumière sur, à la lumière de.^[1][2]
4. Les Lumières: the Enlightenment, les lumières de quelqu'un: their knowledge.^[1][2]
5. A brilliant person: ce n'est pas une lumière.^[2]
6. (technical) An opening, as the touch-hole of a gun, (anatomy) a lumen.^[2][1]
7. (Quebec, informal) Traffic lights; headlights.^[1]

Related words

• luminaire
• lumineux
• luire
• lucide
• Latin lūmen

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 5, 444b
6. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF