pastel

pastel¹ woad

Pronunciation

• /pas.tɛl/^[1]

Forms

pastel m (plural pastels)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the dye plant is borrowed from Occitan pastel, a Languedocian, Gascon and Provençal word,^[2][3][4] derived from pasta (“paste”) (pâte), from Late Latin pasta, because the plant was ground into a paste before it was used for dyeing.^[2][3][5][6] The Occitan word is recorded from the 13th or 14th century; the GLLF cites Old Occitan pastel from the 15th century.^[2][7] Picoche notes that it must have named the paste made from the plant before the plant itself.^[4] Littré explains the name by the small cakes the woad was made into.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in 1393, in a document from Douai, as another name for guède, the woad plant.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The plant was grown in southern France for its blue dye;^[8][2] Olivier de Serres wrote in the 16th century that woad gives blue by itself and, mixed with other substances, black, tan, violet, grey and green.^[8][2] By metonymy the word named the dye itself.^[2] From 1632 it was also used as an adjective for its blue colour.^[2] Bleu pastel, a soft light blue, is recorded by Larousse in 1928, and in this use the word was influenced by the painter's pastel.^[7][5][2]

Timeline

• 1393 – A Douai document uses it for woad.^[2]
• 16th century – Olivier de Serres describes the colours it gives.^[8]
• 1632 – Used as an adjective for its blue colour.^[2]
• 1636 – Monet records it as the name of the dye.^[7]
• 1928 – Bleu pastel in the Larousse.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (botany) woad, a plant of the cabbage family whose stems and leaves yield a blue dye, also called guède or isatis.^[2][5][7]
2. The blue dye obtained from this plant.^[2][7]
3. Bleu pastel, or pastel alone: a soft light blue.^[2][5][7]

pastel² crayon, pastel art

Pronunciation

• /pas.tɛl/^[1]

Forms

pastel m (plural pastels)^[1]

Etymology

The word for the crayon is borrowed from Italian pastello,^[2][9][3][8] which meant “cake” and, by a metaphor, a coloured stick from the late 14th century, a pastel being a kind of coloured paste hardened into a stick.^[2][9] The Italian word comes from Late Latin pastellus, an alteration of Latin pastillus (“small cake, lozenge”) by a change of suffix,^[2][9][4] the Latin word behind pastille.^[9][5] The GLLF gives the Late Latin form as pastellum, altered from the classical pastillum.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1676 by Félibien, for a stick made of compressed coloured powder.^[2][9][7] The Grand Robert and the Petit Robert date the sense “crayon” to 1675.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it named the work drawn with such crayons: first tableau en pastel (1678), then pastel alone, recorded by the Académie in 1694.^[2][9][7] The technique, already used in the 15th century to complete drawings, gave rise to a style in the 18th century under the influence of Rosalba Carriera, and Quentin de La Tour made pastel portraits of the royal family; in the 19th century Toulouse-Lautrec often used it.^[9] As an adjective, invariable, it describes soft light tones like those of pastel (1932, Céline).^[2][9]

English took pastel from French in the 1660s for the crayon, and used it for pale colours by 1899.^[10]

Timeline

• 1660s – English borrows the word for the crayon.^[10]
• 1676 – Félibien records the crayon.^[2][9]
• 1678 – Tableau en pastel for a pastel picture.^[2][9]
• 1694 – The Académie records pastel for the picture itself.^[2][7]
• 1836 – The derivative pastelliste appears.^[9]
• 1932 – Céline uses it as an adjective for soft tones.^[2][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A paste of powdered pigments bound together and shaped into sticks, and such a stick, a pastel crayon: une boîte de pastels.^[5][2][8]
2. The technique of drawing with these crayons: un portrait au pastel.^[2][5]
3. A picture made in pastel: les pastels de Degas.^[5][2][8]

Adjective

1. Soft and light in tone, like the colours of pastel; invariable: des tons pastel.^[5][2][9]

Word family

• pastelliste