obliquer

Forms

obliquer^[1]

Etymology

In its modern sense it is formed from French oblique + -er, first in the second half of the 13th century and again from 1825, as a military term.^[2][3][4] The transitive sense “to turn aside” (1444) is rather borrowed from Latin oblīquō (“to make slant, turn sideways”), from oblīquus (“slanting”).^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg, the Grand Robert and the GLLF instead take the 13th-century verb as a whole from the Latin one, about 1282, as a transitive verb meaning “to make a line deviate”.^[5][6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In a 13th-century Introduction d'astronomie it means “to run in an oblique line”, of a path set in the middle of the heavens.^[2][8]

Semantic evolution

In 1444, in Henri de Granchi's translation of Giles of Rome, it is transitive, “to turn aside”: kings are the rule for others, which must not be obliquee.^[2][8] The verb remained rare until it spread through military use from 1825, with Le Couturier's dictionary of military knowledge.^[3][2] Littré still gives it only as a military term, “to march in an oblique line”.^[9]

Timeline

• 1250–1300 – First record, in an Introduction d'astronomie.^[2]
• 1444 – Transitive “to turn aside”, in Henri de Granchi.^[2][3]
• 1825 – Revived as a military term by Le Couturier.^[2][5][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To take an oblique direction, to veer or turn off to the right or the left: obliquer à droite.^[10][11][2]
2. (military) To march in an oblique line.^[9]
3. To look away from someone.^[1]

Related words

• oblique
• obliquité
• Latin oblīquus

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
5. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b Godefroy, Frédéric (1881–1902), Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle, 10 vols., Paris: Vieweg / Bouillon
9. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)