lunette

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ly.nɛt/^[1]

Forms

lunette f (plural lunettes)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from French lune + -ette, literally “little moon”,^[2][3][4][1] from Latin lūna (“moon”).^[5] The link with the moon was gradually lost as the optical senses grew in importance.^[3] The word for spectacles was chosen because of their likeness in shape to the round glass of a mirror, and its general meaning soon displaced other terms such as besicles.^[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The romance L'Escoufle (about 1200) has lunete for a small round ornament in a fabric.^[2][6][4]

Semantic evolution

In the second half of the 13th century (Vie de sainte Paule) it named the round plate of glass or polished metal of a mirror.^[2][3] Spectacles were invented in Italy at the end of the 13th or the beginning of the 14th century, perhaps after Roger Bacon's optical work in the Opus majus;^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg credit the Florentine Salvino degli Armati.^[5] The plural lunettes “spectacles” is found from 1398.^[2][3] The singular came to name the telescope (1579, in Gabriel Chappuys),^[2] and the Paris spectacle makers were selling a new kind à voir de loing in April 1609.^[7]

From 1676 (Félibien) it also named a round opening: a skylight in a roof, the seat of a privy.^[2][3] Richelet (1680) uses it for the bezel of a watch, Larousse (1872) for the hole of the guillotine, and the rear window of a car was a lunette arrière by 1912.^[2][3] The serpent à lunettes, the cobra, is in the Encyclopédie (1765), and lunettes de cheval “blinkers” in 1678.^[2] Cotgrave (1611) records it for a bird's wishbone.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – A small round ornament, in L'Escoufle.^[2]
• 2nd half of the 13th century – The glass of a round mirror.^[2]
• 1398 – Lunettes “spectacles”.^[2]
• 1579 – A telescope.^[2]
• 1611 – A bird's wishbone, in Cotgrave.^[7]
• 1676 – A round opening; a privy seat (Félibien).^[2]
• 1680 – The bezel of a watch (Richelet).^[2]
• 1765 – Serpent à lunettes.^[2]
• 1872 – The hole of the guillotine.^[3]
• 1912 – Lunette arrière.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Lunettes (plural): glasses, spectacles; also protective goggles.^[8][1]
2. A telescope (refracting): lunette astronomique, lunette d'approche.^[1][3]
3. The seat of a toilet: la lunette des cabinets.^[8][1]
4. A round opening; the hole in the guillotine for the victim's neck.^[8][3]
5. Lunette arrière: the rear window of a car.^[8][2]
6. (architecture) A lunette.^[8][1]
7. The bezel of a watch case.^[8][2]
8. (ornithology) The wishbone.^[1][7]

Related words

• lune
• besicles

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, 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. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d 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 f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert