néon

Forms

néon m (plural néons)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from English neon,^[2] the name coined in 1898 by William Ramsay and Morris Travers, the gas's discoverers,^[3][4][5] from Ancient Greek νέον (néon), the neuter of the adjective νέος (néos, “new”), because it was a newly found gas.^{[3][4][6][5][7]} The TLFi, the DHLF and Bloch and Wartburg present it as taken from the Greek word, the GLLF as taken from English.^[3][4][6][2] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert analyse it as the Greek adjective with the suffix -on of argon and krypton.^[8][9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in French in 1898, in the Bulletin de la Société chimique de Paris, as the name of a rare gas.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Neon glows orange-red when an electric discharge passes through it at low pressure, which gave tube à néon (1912), also tube au néon.^[3][4] By ellipsis un néon became a tube light, and in everyday use it is applied loosely to any fluorescent tube.^[4][9] The GLLF dates this sense from the Robert of 1959.^[2][10] The word has also become a symbol of the artificial light and advertising signs of modern cities.^[4]

Timeline

• 1898 – Ramsay and Travers name the gas neon in English.^[3][5]
• 1898 – Néon appears in the Bulletin de la Société chimique de Paris.^[3][4][6]
• 1912 – Tube à néon is first recorded.^[3][4]
• 1959 – The Robert records it for a fluorescent tube.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (chemistry) neon, a colourless noble gas of the atmosphere (symbol Ne), which gives an orange-red glow when an electric discharge passes through it.^[3][9][1]
2. A neon tube used for lit signs, and loosely any fluorescent tube used for lighting: changer un néon.^[3][9][1]

Related words

• Ancient Greek νέος (néos)
• English neon

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 93a
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF