pivot

Forms

pivot m (plural pivots)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French pivot, of obscure origin.^[2][3][1] The TLFi, Bloch and Wartburg and Rey take it as probably derived from a simple word not recorded in French, which seems to survive, despite the different vowel, in Angevin pue (“tooth of a weaver's comb or of a harrow”), in Old Occitan pua (“tooth of a comb”) (early 13th century), now pivo and puo, and in Spanish púa (“point”) (1475).^[4][5][2] The TLFi explains the /i/ as a delabialization of /y/ before a labial consonant, following the FEW and Guiraud.^[4] The origin of these words is itself unclear: the TLFi, the REW and Rey trace them to Proto-Italic *puga (“point”), an Italic form related to Latin pungō (“to prick”),^[4][6][2][3] which the Grand Robert and the GLLF call pre-Latin.^[7][8] Meyer-Lübke rejects Diez's derivation of the Spanish and Provençal words from pūgiō (“dagger”) as impossible on phonetic grounds.^[6]

The sources set aside a link with pive “pine cone” (1611), which comes from Vulgar Latin *pipa and is found mainly near northern Italy,^[4][2][5] and Rey and the TLFi find no need for Guiraud's derivation from pūpa (“little girl”) and its Romance doublet *puppa “nipple”, based on the idea of a swelling.^[2][4][7] Littré cites Medieval Latin pivotus from a 14th-century text and reports Diez's link with Italian piva (“pipe”).^[9] Cognate with Catalan piu (“pivot”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, in Étienne de Fougères's Manières (1174–1178), is figurative: it is used of an axis around which something moves.^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

The concrete technical sense, the narrowed end of a vertical turning shaft, is recorded in 1338, and it led to the figurative sense of the person or thing at the heart of an action or a system (1538).^[2][4][8] By likeness of shape and function it named the main root of a plant, which grows first (1651).^[2][4]

In military drill it was the point, or the man, around which a troop wheels (1752), a sense later carried over to sport (basketball, 1938).^[2][4] In dentistry (1926) it names the post driven into a root to hold an artificial tooth; purists object that a pivot should turn, but dent à pivot is commoner than the recommended dent à tenon.^[2]

The main derivative, pivoter (1508), first meant “to wriggle”; it became usual in the 19th century in the sense “to turn on a pivot”.^[2][5]

Timeline

• 1174–1178 – First record, figurative, in Étienne de Fougères's Manières.^[4]
• 1338 – The technical sense is recorded in the accounts of Oudart de Laigny.^[4][2]
• 1508 – The verb pivoter appears.^[5][2]
• 1538 – R. Estienne records the figurative sense of a central person or thing.^[8][2]
• 1651 – Bonnefons's Jardinier françois uses it of the taproot.^[4][8]
• 1752 – The Dictionnaire de Trévoux records the military sense.^[4][8]
• 1926 – First use in dentistry.^[2]
• 1938 – Used in basketball.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The tapered end of a vertical shaft, or the piece fitted to it, on which a load turns; a pivot, as for the needle of a compass.^[3][10][11]
2. (figurative) That on which everything else rests and turns; the linchpin or centre of something.^{[3][10][11][1]}
3. (finance) Cours pivot, taux pivot: the central rate of exchange fixed for each currency of the European Monetary System.^[3]
4. (botany) The main, vertical root of a plant; a taproot.^{[11][10][9][1]}
5. (horology) The cylindrical end of an arbor that carries a wheel.^[11][9]
6. (military) The man or point around which a troop wheels.^[4][2]
7. (dentistry) A post set in the root of a tooth to hold an artificial crown.^[2]
8. (sport) In basketball, the center, and in handball, the circle runner, in this sense also feminine for a woman player.^[1][2]

Word family

• pivotant
• pivotement
• pivoter

Usage notes

Littré notes that the final ⟨t⟩ is silent and never linked, while the plural ⟨s⟩ is linked.^[9]

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 q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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
5. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
9. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)