phare

Forms

phare m (plural phares)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pharus (“lighthouse”) (also spelled ⟨pharos⟩), which is from Ancient Greek Φάρος (Pháros), the name of an island in the bay of Alexandria.^[2][3][1] King Ptolemy Philadelphus had a tower of white marble about 100 metres high built there in 280 BC, one of the Seven Wonders of the World; its name first meant that lighthouse and, by the 1st century, any lighthouse.^[3][4][5] The Grand Robert and the DHLF date the French word to 1546; the TLFi's first quotation is from Rabelais's Quart Livre (1548).^[5][3][2]

One of the first lighthouses in Italy stood at Messina, and its Italian name ⟨Faro⟩ came to mean the strait of Messina and, in Old Italian, any strait;^[2][3] Old French borrowed it as far “strait (of Messina)” about 1195, a form used until the 16th century.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Rabelais's Quart Livre (1548) it names a tower built at the entrance of a harbour or near a coast, with a fire at its top to guide ships at night.^[2]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy the word named the light at the top of the tower (1636, Monet).^[2][3] By analogy it was applied to a lantern at the front of a galley, written fare in 1599 and phare in 1660, and later to other lights doing the same work: a beacon for air navigators (1863) and a headlight at the front of a vehicle (1896, first phare ambulant in 1859), a sense that became common with the motor car and gave phrases such as appel de phares.^[2][3] In 1690 Furetière records it for a candlestick holding a ring of candles, and in 1893 phare de cimetière for a lantern of the dead.^[2][3]

Used figuratively, a phare is a person or thing taken as a guide or model: the TLFi dates this to Cyrano de Bergerac (1654), the DHLF to 1606.^[2][3] Baudelaire's poem Les Phares uses this sense, and in apposition the noun means “leading, flagship” (secteur phare).^[6][1]

Timeline

• c. 1195 – Old French far “strait of Messina” is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1546 – First record of phare “lighthouse”.^[5][3]
• 1548 – Rabelais uses it in the Quart Livre.^[2]
• 1599 – Fare names a lantern at the front of a galley.^[2]
• 1636 – Monet uses it for the light at the top of a lighthouse.^[2]
• 1654 – Cyrano de Bergerac uses it figuratively.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “candlestick with a ring of candles”.^[2]
• 1863 – Phares et balises for air navigation.^[2]
• 1893 – Phare de cimetière “lantern of the dead”.^[2][3]
• 1896 – First record of the sense “vehicle headlight”.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A lighthouse, a tall tower on a coast or islet with a powerful light at its top to guide ships at night.^[6][2][7] gardien de phare (lighthouse keeper).^[2][6]
2. The light or lantern of a lighthouse.^[1][8]
3. A headlight of a vehicle.^[7][6][1] Un appel de phares (a flash of the headlights to attract attention), also phare antibrouillard (fog lamp).^[7][1]
4. (figurative) A person or thing that guides or enlightens others, a beacon.^[6][1][9]
5. (in apposition) Leading, flagship: secteur phare.^[6][1]

Word family

• gyrophare
• pharillon
• bateau-phare
• radiophare

Related words

• falot
• Latin pharus

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a second, minor phare (1842), a spelling variant of fard, the nautical term for the set of sails on a mast, adopted under the influence of phare “lighthouse” or of Greek pharos “cloth, sail” in Mediterranean speech;^[5] Littré and Wiktionary give this sense under phare.^[8][1] Littré also records le phare de Messine for the strait of Messina.^[8]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 r s t 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. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
8. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF