piston

Forms

piston m (plural pistons)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian pistone, recorded with the sense “pestle” from 1462,^[2][3][1] derived from pistare (“to pound”), a form of pestare.^[2][3][4] The Italian verb continues Late Latin pistō (“to pound”), formed on pistum, the supine of Latin pīnsō (“to crush, pound”).^[3][1][5]

Littré cites the Italian form pestone and Old French pester.^[6] The Latin verb has outcomes such as Occitan pestar and Spanish pistar.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Rabelais's Gargantua (1534) in jouer au piston, of uncertain sense, probably “pestle”;^[2][3] Rabelais uses it again in 1552 for the pestle of a mortar.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The sense “pestle” went out of use in favour of pilon.^[3] In the 17th century, from the likeness of shape, the word took a technical sense: the cylinder that moves to and fro in a tube to exert pressure or transmit motion, recorded in Arnauld and Nicole in 1662 and, according to Bloch and Wartburg, in Pascal by 1648.^[2][3][4] In the 19th century it gained special senses in gunmaking (fusil à piston, 1825) and in music (1837), notably in cornet à piston (1842); piston alone then also named that instrument.^[2][3]

Because the piston of a steam engine sets it going, the word took the figurative sense “backing, string-pulling” in 1857, first in the slang of the scientific grandes écoles in avoir du piston, then in general use.^[3][2][8] The verb pistonner “to back a candidate” comes from this sense.^[3][4] In school slang it has named, since 1874, a student preparing for the École centrale, from the badge on the students' cap, and later the school itself.^[3][8][9]

English took the mechanical word as piston in 1704.^[5]

Timeline

• 1462 – Italian pistone is recorded with the sense “pestle”.^[2][3]
• 1534 – Rabelais writes jouer au piston in Gargantua.^[2]
• 1552 – Rabelais uses it of a mortar's pestle.^[2][3]
• 1648 – Pascal uses it as a term of mechanics, according to Bloch and Wartburg.^[4][3]
• 1662 – Arnauld and Nicole use it for a cylinder moving in a tube.^[2][3]
• 1704 – English borrows it.^[5]
• 1825 – Fusil à piston appears.^[2][3]
• 1837 – First musical use.^[2][3]
• 1842 – Hugo writes cornet à piston.^[2]
• 1857 – Avoir du piston “to have influence” appears in student slang, with the verb pistonner.^[2][3]
• 1874 – School slang uses it for a student preparing for the École centrale.^[2][3]
• 1931 – The derivative pistonnage is recorded.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A piston: a part that moves to and fro inside a cylinder, receiving or transmitting pressure, as in a pump, a syringe or an engine.^[8][10]
2. A valve regulating the passage of air in some brass instruments: cornet à pistons.^[8][10]
3. Cornet à pistons, and by metonymy piston: the cornet.^[8][3]
4. (familiar) string-pulling, backing or recommendation that wins someone a post or promotion: avoir du piston.^[8][10][2]
5. (school slang) A student preparing for or attending the École centrale; the school itself.^[8][10]
6. (historical) The hammer of a percussion gun: fusil à piston.^[11][2]

Word family

• pistonner
• pistonnage

Related words

• piste
• pistil
• pistou
• pétrin
• pilon
• capiston
• Italian pistone
• Latin pīnsō
• English piston

Usage notes

The Grand Robert has a second piston (1888), dated military slang for a captain, formed by aphaeresis from capiston, a popular alteration of capitaine.^[11] Rey thinks that capiston itself was probably shaped by the attraction of piston.^[3]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 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 n o p q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
8. ^ a b c d e f g 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
10. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert