Etymologically
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machine

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Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ma.ʃin/[1]

Forms

machine f (plural machines)[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin māchina (“contrivance, device; engine of war; hoist, (figurative) scheme”), an early borrowing of Ancient Greek μαχανά (mākhanā́), the Doric form of μηχανή (mēkhanḗ, “means; machine; device; trick”) (see mécanique).[2][3][4][5][1][6] The Greek word covered any contrivance, sometimes in a bad sense, close to δόλος (dólos, “trick, ruse”).[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg note that the concrete sense prevailed for “machine”, while machiner and machination, borrowed earlier, kept the sense of scheming.[7]

Compare Italian macchina and Spanish máquina.[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

Nicole Oresme (1377) speaks of la machine corporele ou la masse de tous lez corps du monde, the frame of the universe, a whole as complex as a machine.[2][9][5]

Semantic evolution

The technical sense, a set of mechanisms combined to produce an effect, appears in Amyot (1559), with machines et engins de baterie “siege engines”, machine de guerre (1671), stage machinery (1664, Molière) and machines hydrauliques (1690) followed.[2][3][9] Descartes (1637) used it for the organs of a living body, hence the theory of animals as machines, and Pascal (1658) for what is automatic in man.[2][3]

From the theatre came the sense of what moves a plot forward, and then a set of means for steering affairs (1656) and a clever trick (1639), both now gone.[3][2] A machine infernale was a fire ship (1704), then a bomb for an assassination (1801).[2] The typewriter was la machine in 1899, and machine à écrire is recorded in 1903.[2] In dated Quebec and Acadian use machine is a car.[1]

Timeline

  • 1377 – Machine corporele, Oresme.[2]
  • 1559 – A mechanism, Amyot.[2]
  • 1637 – The machine of the body, Descartes.[2]
  • 1658 – The automatic in man, Pascal.[2]
  • 1664 – Stage machinery, Molière.[2]
  • 1801 – Machine infernale, a bomb.[2]
  • 1903 – Machine à écrire.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A machine: machine à laver, machine à coudre, machine à café, machine à sous.[10][1]
  2. An engine or locomotive, (Quebec, dated) a car.[1][5]
  3. (figurative) A large organization working like a machine: la machine administrative.[1][10]
  4. A person who acts mechanically, or who is very efficient.[2][1]
  5. Machine de guerre: a war engine, (figurative) a weapon against an opponent.[2][3]
  6. (theatre) Stage machinery.[2][3]

Word family

  • machinal
  • machinerie
  • machinisme
  • machiniste
  • mécanique
  • mécanisme
  • machin
  • machiner
  • machination
  • Latin māchina

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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
  6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 6/1, 10a
  7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  8. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
  9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
  10. ^ a b Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert