parangon

Forms

parangon m (plural parangons)^[1] Anglo-Norman paragone (13th century), Middle French paragonne (15th century, feminine) and paragon (1489–1494); parangon from 1504.^[2][3] Paragon was still frequent in the 16th century.^[4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian paragone (“touchstone”),^[2][3][5] recorded in Italian as paragono at the end of the 13th century.^[2][3] The form with ⟨n⟩ is borrowed from Spanish parangón (“comparison”), itself from the Italian word, rather than the later Italian form parangone, which may be a reborrowing from Spanish;^[3][1] Bloch and Wartburg see a borrowing from both languages at once.^[4]

The Italian noun is a deverbal of paragonare (“to compare, to test on the touchstone”), which comes from a Greek verb meaning “to sharpen”, derived from a Greek word for a whetstone.^[3][4][6] Littré instead reported Diez's view that it came from the Spanish phrase para con “in comparison with”.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The word is first found in Anglo-Norman as paragone, in a 13th-century lapidary, probably meaning “touchstone”.^[2][3] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert cite mettre en parragon “to compare” from about 1270.^[8][9]

Semantic evolution

In the 15th century the word took its modern sense “model, perfect example”, as in parangon de vertu, often with some irony today.^[3][2] It also had the sense “thing comparable” (1540) and “comparison” (en paragon, 1546, Rabelais), which went out of use; the Académie still recorded mettre en parangon and sans parangon up to 1878.^[2][3]

Jewellers used it for an exceptionally fine stone (1538), printers for a type size (1562), and it was the name of a black marble.^[2][3][9] The sense “touchstone” is rare in French: Ménage said the French did not use the word that way.^[4] The verb parangonner meant “to compare” (paragonner 1531, parangonner 1542) and survives only as a printers' term for aligning type of different sizes.^[3]

Timeline

• 13th century – Anglo-Norman paragone in a lapidary.^[2][3]
• 15th century – The feminine paragonne “model, perfect type”.^[2][3]
• 1489–1494 – Octavien de Saint-Gelais uses the masculine paragon.^[2]
• 1504 – Jean Lemaire de Belges uses the form parangon.^[2][3]
• 1538 – A jeweller's term: un parangon de turquoise.^[2][5]
• 1546 – Rabelais writes en paragon “in comparison”.^[2]
• 1562 – A printing term.^[2][10]
• 1611 – Cotgrave gives parangon and paragon as “touchstone”.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (literary, sometimes ironic) A perfect model or example: un parangon de vertu.^[9][2][3]
2. (obsolete) Comparison: mettre en parangon.^[2][7]
3. (jewellery) A flawless pearl or diamond of exceptional size and beauty.^[9][7]
4. A black marble from Egypt and Greece.^[9]
5. (printing) A size of type.^[3][10]

Word family

• parangonner

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF