pastiche

Forms

pastiche m (plural pastiches)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian pasticcio, properly “pie” and, from the second half of the 17th century, figuratively “muddle”, borrowed as a term of painting.^[2][3][4] The Italian word comes from Vulgar Latin *pastīcius, from Late Latin pasta (“dough, paste”),^[5][1][6] which Wiktionary traces to Ancient Greek παστά (pastá, “barley porridge”), from παστός (pastós, “sprinkled with salt”).^[1] It is a doublet of pastis, which came through Occitan.^[1][3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi first finds it in 1719, in Du Bos's Réflexions critiques sur la poésie et sur la peinture, for a counterfeit of a painting;^[2][3] the Grand Robert and the GLLF date the painting sense to 1677.^[7][5]

Semantic evolution

From a painting imitating the manner of a master, pastiche was extended to any work in which an author imitates another's style, in literature from 1787 (Marmontel).^[2][3] It soon passed into music for an opera made up of airs taken from other works (1798).^[3][5] First a school exercise, the pastiche developed an aesthetic of its own in the 19th and early 20th centuries, as in Proust's Pastiches et Mélanges.^[3][4]

In the 19th century it gave pasticher (1845, Baudelaire), pasticheur (1860) and the rare, pejorative pasticherie (1879, Huysmans).^[3] English took pastiche from French in 1878, after borrowing the Italian form in 1752.^[6]

Timeline

• 1677 – First record of the painting sense, according to the Grand Robert and the GLLF.^[7][5]
• 1719 – Du Bos uses it for a counterfeit painting.^[2][3]
• 1787 – Marmontel applies it to a literary imitation of style.^[2][3]
• 1798 – It names an opera put together from airs of other works.^[3][5]
• 1845 – Baudelaire uses the verb pasticher.^[3]
• 1860 – Pasticheur is recorded.^[3]
• 1878 – English pastiche is first recorded.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A literary or artistic work imitating the manner or style of a master, as an exercise, for fun or as a parody.^[2][4]
2. (painting) A painting imitating the touch, drawing and colouring of another painter, or mixing the manners of several.^[8][5]
3. (music) An opera (opéra) made up of pieces taken from different works.^[8][3][5]

Word family

• pasticher
• pasticheur

Related words

• pastis
• pâte
• Italian pasticcio
• English pastiche

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette