pente

Forms

pente f (plural pentes)^[1] Middle French also spelled pante.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Vulgar Latin *pendita, the substantivized feminine of *penditus, an unattested past participle of Latin pendeō (“to hang, be suspended”).^{[2][3][4][5][1]} The word must have existed in Old French, perhaps only in an outlying area, since its derivative penture is recorded in 1294; it reached the written language in the 14th century and gradually displaced the noun pendant.^[2][3] Bloch and Wartburg list it with the derivatives of pendre, and Littré compared its formation with vente and rente.^[6][7]

The TLFi links the sense of hanging cloth to Old French pendre (“to be suspended”) and the sense of slope to its sense “to lean, overhang”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its first record (1335, a document in the Archives nationales) the word means what penture means, the iron band that holds a door on its hinges.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The modern sense “incline of a surface”, at first usually with reference to water running off, is recorded in 1358 and drove out the other senses, the hanging cloth of a bed canopy (1497) and the cloth hanging along the sides of an altar (1563).^[2][3]

From the physical incline came figurative uses (1580, Montaigne) and the moral sense “natural inclination, tendency” (1588), often of a leaning towards evil; in these uses the slope is always seen as going down, as in pente savonneuse and pente glissante.^[2][3] By metonymy it named a sloping surface or hillside (1796), and geometry gave it the sense “slope of a line” (1868).^[2][8]

Timeline

• 1294 – The derivative penture is recorded.^[3]
• 1335 – Pente is first recorded, meaning a door hinge strap.^[2]
• 1358 – It means the incline of a surface.^[2][3]
• 1497 – It names the hanging cloth of a bed.^[2]
• 1588 – Montaigne uses it for a moral inclination.^[2][3]
• 1694 – Thomas Corneille records pente de comble “pitch of a roof”.^[2]
• 1796 – Saussure uses it for a sloping surface to climb or descend.^[2]
• 1868 – The geometric sense “slope of a line” is recorded.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. The incline of a surface relative to the horizontal: une pente douce, une pente raide.^[8][2]
2. A sloping surface, a slope: descendre la pente en courant.^[8][2][1]
3. (mathematics) The gradient of a line or curve.^[8][1]
4. (figurative) A natural inclination or tendency, often towards something bad: être sur une mauvaise pente.^[8][3][1]

Word family

• parapente

Related words

• pencher
• pendre
• penture
• pendant

Usage notes

Remonter la pente means to recover after a setback, and pente savonneuse or pente glissante a course that leads easily to worse.^[1][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 8, 174b
6. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse