parabole

parabole¹ parable

Pronunciation

• /pa.ʁa.bɔl/^[1]

Forms

parabole f (plural paraboles)^[1] Old French parable, first found in the plural parables;^[2][3][4] parabole is recorded from 1265.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The word for the parable is borrowed from Ecclesiastical Latin parabola (also parabole), an allegorical story of the holy books hiding a teaching; in Classical Latin the word meant “comparison, likeness”.^[2][3][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison”), which already had the Christian sense in the Greek translation of the New Testament.^[2][3] The Greek noun comes from παραβάλλω (parabállō, “to throw beside, to compare”), formed with παρά (pará, “beside”) and βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[3][6]

parole is the inherited doublet of the same Latin word.^[1][2] The geometric parabole² is the same Greek word, borrowed again in its mathematical sense.^[7][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found at the end of the 12th century as parables “the sayings of Solomon”, in the Sermons of Saint Bernard on the Song of Songs.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The word was first used of the sayings of Solomon, also called proverbs, and above all of the parables of the Gospels.^[3] In the 13th century it took the less strictly biblical sense of an allegorical story hiding a teaching, as in Jean de Meun's part of the Roman de la Rose (1269–1278).^[2][3] In Anglo-Norman, from the early 13th century, parable meant a parable and also the Book of Proverbs.^[4] Old French parable passed into English as parable in the late 13th century.^[8]

In the early 15th century Charles d'Orléans used parler en paraboles for “to lie”;^[9][10] parler par paraboles, “to speak obliquely, obscurely”, is found in La Fontaine (1668).^[9][10] Les paraboles de Salomon, the Book of Proverbs, is recorded in 1672.^[9][6]

Timeline

• Late 12th century – Parables “the sayings of Solomon” appears in the Sermons of Saint Bernard.^[2]
• 1265 – The form parabole is recorded in Li Livres de jostice et de plet.^[2][5]
• 1269–1278 – Jean de Meun uses it for an allegorical story hiding a teaching.^[2][3]
• 14th century – Oresme writes Et de ce est une parabole.^[6]
• Early 15th century – Charles d'Orléans uses parler en paraboles for lying.^[9][6]
• 1668 – La Fontaine uses parler par paraboles.^[9]
• 1672 – Sacy uses les paraboles de Salomon.^[9]
• 1694 – The Académie records the word.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A parable, a short allegorical story of the holy books hiding a religious teaching, as in the Gospels.^[10][2][11]
2. By extension, an allegorical story with a moral lesson.^[10][2]
3. Les paraboles de Salomon: the Book of Proverbs.^[10][6]
4. (dated) Parler par paraboles: to speak in an indirect, obscure way.^[10][9]

Word family

• paraboliste

parabole² parabola

Pronunciation

• /pa.ʁa.bɔl/^[1]

Forms

parabole f (plural paraboles)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the geometric curve is borrowed from Ancient Greek παραβολή (parabolḗ, “comparison, juxtaposition”), borrowed in 1554 (the TLFi dates it 1555) in the mathematical sense the Greek word already had.^[5][7][2] It is the same word as parabole¹; the Greek noun took this sense from that of its verb παραβάλλω (parabállō, “to throw beside, to lay alongside”) in the language of mathematics.^[7][2][6] Etymonline says the curve was so named by Apollonius of Perga because it is produced by the “application” of a given area to a given straight line.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded as a term of geometry in 1554;^[5][7] the TLFi's first record is in Barthélemy Aneau's Trésor de Evonime Philiatre (1555).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Introduced as a term of geometry, the word was extended to the shape of a thing or movement that more or less follows that curve, first the path of a projectile (1727).^[3][2] Since about 1980 it has also named a parabolic television aerial, a satellite dish; in the French of the Maghreb, where the word is very frequent, une parabolique is used too.^[3][10]

Timeline

• 1554 – First recorded as a term of geometry.^[5][7]
• 1555 – Barthélemy Aneau uses it in the Trésor de Evonime Philiatre.^[2]
• 1571 – The derivative parabolique “relating to the parabola” is recorded.^[3]
• 1727 – It is used for the curve a projectile describes in the air.^[2][3]
• c. 1980 – It comes to name a satellite dish.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (geometry) A parabola, a plane curve each point of which is equally distant from a fixed point, the foyer, and a fixed line, the directrice.^[10][2][1]
2. The curved path of a projectile.^[10][2]
3. (telecommunications) A satellite dish, a parabolic aerial.^[10][3][1]

Word family

• parabolique
• paraboloïde
• paraboliser