noyau

Forms

noyau m (plural noyaux)^[1] Old French noiel and noiaus; the spelling noyau is recorded in 1530.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French noiel, inherited from Late Latin nucālis (“nut-sized, like a nut”), an adjective derived from nux (“nut”) that was used as a noun for a fruit stone in Vulgar Latin.^[5][2][6][7] Old Occitan nogalh is the same word with another suffix.^[5][2][8]

The FEW, the Grand Robert, the GLLF and Picoche derive it instead from Vulgar Latin *nōdellus (“little knot”), a diminutive of nōdus (“knot”).^{[9][4][3][10]} Bloch and Wartburg and Littré keep the two apart: Old French also had noel (“button, knob”) from that Latin diminutive, which was soon confused with the word for the stone, and Provençal nouzeu still means both “joint” and “stone”.^[6][8] Wiktionary gives both etyma and takes the modern form from the old plural noiaus.^[1] The English word newel comes from the Old French word.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the early 13th century the Sermons poitevins use it for the hard central part of a fruit; in 1277 Rutebeuf writes le noiel laissiez por l'escrasche “you leave the kernel for the shell”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

From the fruit stone came eau de noyau (1721), a liqueur made from apricot kernels, shortened to noyau (1922).^[5][2] By analogy, from the 15th century the word named a compact central part: the newel of a spiral staircase (1475), the core of a casting mould (1660) and the inner mass of a construction (1690).^[5][2]

The sciences took it up from the mid-18th century: the nucleus of a comet (Buffon, 1749), the bright part of sunspots (1765), the core of the Earth (Marat, 1791), a nodule in medicine (1847), the nucleus of the cell (1855), the core of a coil in electricity (1890) and, after the English word nucleus used by Rutherford in 1912, the nucleus of the atom.^[5][2] Linguists use it for the minimal unit of a basic sentence (1966).^[5][2]

Of people, noyau meant a group that gives life to a larger whole (before 1781), a small group from which a larger one grew (1794) and a small group working against the body around it (Michelet, 1844), the sense behind noyauter (1920).^[5][2]

Timeline

• early 13th century – The Sermons poitevins use noiel for a fruit stone.^[5]
• 1475 – It names the newel of a spiral staircase.^[5][2]
• 1530 – The spelling noyau is recorded.^[2][4]
• 1660 – It names the core of a casting mould.^[5]
• 1721 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records eau de noyau.^[5][3]
• 1749 – Buffon speaks of the nucleus of a comet.^[5][2]
• 1794 – It is used for a small founding group of people.^[5][12]
• 1855 – It names the nucleus of the cell.^[5]
• 1920 – Noyauter and noyautage appear at the Congress of Tours.^[5][2]
• 1926 – It names the nucleus of the atom.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The stone or pit of a fruit, the hard woody part enclosing the kernel: les fruits à noyau.^[7][5]
2. A liqueur made from fruit kernels, also eau de noyau, crème de noyau.^[7][5]
3. (biology) The nucleus of a cell.^[7][1]
4. (physics) The nucleus of an atom.^[7][1]
5. (astronomy, geology) The central part of a comet or a galaxy; the core of the Earth.^[7][1]
6. (architecture) The central pillar of a spiral staircase, the newel; the inner core of a structure.^[7][5]
7. (technical) The solid part inside a mould that leaves a hollow in the casting; the iron core of a coil.^[7][5]
8. (computing) The kernel of an operating system.^[1]
9. (linguistics) The nucleus of a syllable or of a basic sentence.^[1][2]
10. A small group of people at the centre of a larger one, or working within a hostile body, a cell.^[7][5][1]

Word family

• noyautage
• noyauter
• dénoyauter

Related words

• noix
• nœud
• nucléaire
• Latin nux
• English newel

Usage notes

Rembourré avec des noyaux de pêche is said in familiar speech of a very hard, uncomfortable seat or mattress.^[7][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v 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
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 7, 168a
10. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF