pôle

Forms

pôle m (plural pôles)^[1] Older spellings pole (about 1220) and pol (1338).^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin polus (“pole of the sky, pole star, sky”),^[2][3][4][5] which is from Ancient Greek πόλος (pólos, “pivot, axis of the world, vault of heaven”).^[2][3][6] The Robert dictionaries and Littré connect the Greek noun with πολέω (poléō, “to turn”);^[5][7][8] Rey derives it from πέλομαι (pélomai, “to move, to be”) and traces it to the root Proto-Indo-European *kʷel- (“to turn”), also seen in κύκλος (kúklos) and colō.^[3] Wiktionary takes the French word as inherited through Old French pole.^[1] Bloch and Wartburg date it from 1295 and call it rare before the 16th century.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in an astronomical sense in the Petite Philosophie (about 1220): Dous poles el firmament sunt “there are two poles in the firmament”.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Medieval astronomy took the word for each end of the axis about which the sky seems to turn.^[3] The senses “pole star” (1372) and “sky” (16th century), taken from Latin, died out.^[3] It entered everyday use for the ends of the Earth's axis in pol artique (1338) and pôle antarctique, with pôle septentrional (1562), boréal (1691), austral (1680) and méridional (1691), beside which pôle Nord and pôle Sud are now more usual.^[2][3] By the late 17th century it also named the region near a pole.^[3]

From the 17th century it spread to the sciences: Descartes (1647) used it in geometry for each end of the axis of a solid of revolution and for each end of a magnet,^[2][3] whence pôle magnétique (1751); Gay-Lussac wrote of pôle positif and pôle négatif in electricity (1814), and biology took it up in 1897.^[2][3] The figurative sense, the two principal and opposed points about which something turns, is classical (1664),^[2][3] while the modern pôle d'attraction seems to come from the magnetic sense.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1220 – First recorded in astronomy, in the Petite Philosophie.^[2][6]
• 1338 – Pol artique and pol antartique.^[2]
• 1372 – Used for the pole star.^[3]
• 1647 – Descartes uses it in geometry and for the poles of a magnet.^[2][3]
• 1664 – Ablancourt uses it figuratively: reward and punishment are the two poles on which mankind turns.^[2]
• 1751 – Pôle magnétique.^[2][3]
• 1808 – Pôle du froid, the coldest point of the globe.^[2]
• 1814 – Gay-Lussac uses pôle positif and pôle négatif.^[2][3]
• 1897 – First used in biology.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (astronomy) Each of the two points of the celestial sphere at the ends of the axis about which it seems to turn.^[7][2]
2. Each of the two points of the Earth's surface at the ends of its axis of rotation: pôle Nord, pôle Sud.^[7][9][10]
3. The region near a pole: Ils sont partis pour le pôle.^[9][10]
4. (geometry) Each end of the axis of a solid of revolution.^[3][2]
5. (physics) Each end of a magnet, also pôle magnétique.^[2][3]
6. (electricity) Each terminal of a circuit or battery: pôle positif, pôle négatif.^[2][3]
7. (biology, anatomy) Each end of an organ or a cell.^[10][2]
8. (figurative) Each of two terms in complete opposition.^[10]
9. (figurative) A centre of attraction or activity, a hub: pôle d'attraction.^[3][1]

Related words

• polaire
• Latin polus
• Ancient Greek πόλος (pólos)

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 k l m n o p q r s t u 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 k l m n o p q r s t Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)