pigmentation

Forms

pigmentation f (plural pigmentations)^[1]

Etymology

The TLFi derives it from French pigment + -ation.^[2] Rey, the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert instead take it from the stem of Late Latin pigmentatus (“coloured”), and Rey says that it was formed on that Latin word rather than on the French pigment.^[3][4][5] The Wiktionnaire derives it from pigmenter.^[6] The French noun is a learned borrowing of pigmentum (“paint, colouring matter, rouge”).^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1865 in Littré and Robin's medical dictionary, for the formation of pigment in the tissues of the body and its normal or abnormal accumulation, as in pigmentation rétinienne.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Littré defined it as the action of colouring by a pigment, with the example of the skin.^[7] In biology it names both the forming and the build-up of pigments in tissues, and by extension the colouring that results, notably of the skin by melanin.^[8][5] From the middle of the 20th century it is also a technical term for colouring a product with pigments, recorded by the Larousse in 1963.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1865 – Littré and Robin record it in physiology.^[2][5]
• 1869 – Littré's dictionary records it.^[8]
• 1932 – The Larousse records the sense “colouring with a pigment”.^[8]
• 1963 – The Larousse encyclopédique records the same sense.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (biology) The formation and accumulation, normal or pathological, of pigments in the tissues: la pigmentation de l’iris.^[5][2]
2. The colouring of the skin by melanin, lighter or darker.^[5]
3. (technology) The colouring of a product, such as a paint or coating, with pigments.^[5][2][8]
4. Colouring in dots or patches.^[2]

Related words

• pigmenter
• piment

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 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. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Wiktionnaire (French Wiktionary), fr.wiktionary.org
7. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse