manivelle

Forms

manivelle f (plural manivelles)^[1] Old French manevele, manvele;^[2][3][4] Middle French menivelle (1325) and manevelle (1449).^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French manevele, inherited from Vulgar Latin *manabella, an alteration of *manibula, a variant of manicula (“little hand, plough handle”), from manus (“hand”).^[2][5][4][3] The TLFi follows Antoine Thomas in this explanation.^[2] The ⟨i⟩ of the modern form is probably due to the influence of manier.^[2][4][5] Wiktionary gives Late Latin manuālis as an alternative source.^[1] Littré cited Scheler's older view of a hybrid of the Latin word for hand and Old High German wellan (“to turn”).^[6]

Compare Italian manovella.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, manevele in the Chanson de Guillaume (about 1200), is the hand grip of a shield.^[2][5] The GLLF dates this text to the end of the 11th century, Bloch and Wartburg to about 1130.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the hand grip of a shield the word passed in the early 14th century to the technical sense of an arm set at a right angle to a shaft, which turns it: in 1312 it was used of the handles of wells.^[2][5] Several specialised technical senses followed in the 19th century, with compounds such as arbre-manivelle (1882).^[5] In cycling it names the crank joining the pedal to the chainwheel, and in slang of the 1940s it meant the arms or the legs.^[5]

The hand crank of early film cameras gave premier tour de manivelle “start of shooting”, and the starting handle of early cars gave retour de manivelle.^[5][7]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – Manevele “grip of a shield” appears in the Chanson de Guillaume.^[2]
• 1312 – The technical sense “crank” is recorded.^[2][5]
• 1325 – The form menivelle is found.^[3][4]
• 1449 – The form manevelle is found.^[3][5]
• 1575 – Ambroise Paré uses the form manivelle.^[2]
• 1882 – The compound arbre-manivelle is recorded.^[5]
• Early 20th century – Retour de manivelle and the starting handle are recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crank, a bent arm fixed to a shaft and turned by hand: tourner la manivelle du puits.^[7][3][1]
2. The starting handle of early cars;^[7][3] démarrer à la manivelle, to crank-start.^[7][3]
3. Premier tour de manivelle: the start of shooting a film.^[7][5]
4. (mechanics) A crank turning a back-and-forth motion into rotation, as in an engine; the crank of a bicycle.^[7][5]

Related words

• main
• manier
• manique
• Latin manicula

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert