plongeon

plongeon¹ diving bird

Pronunciation

• /plɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

plongeon m (plural plongeons)^[1] Old French plongon, replaced by plongeon in the 13th century.^[2]

Etymology

The word for the diving bird is inherited from Old French plongon, inherited from Late Latin plumbiōnem, the accusative of a bird name recorded in the 5th century by Polemius Silvius, a writer born in Gaul.^[3][4][5][2] The Late Latin noun is derived from Latin plumbum (“lead”): the bird was so called because it stays under water for a long time and vanishes there like a lump of lead.^[3][4][2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found as plongons, in a list of water birds beside cranes and herons, in Floire et Blancheflor at the end of the 12th century.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The name has kept its first sense of a large diving water bird of northern regions.^[3][2] Rey notes that speakers now feel it to be a derivative of plongeur and of plongeon “dive”, although it is the older word.^[2] Littré also records it in the 16th century for human divers.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 1170 – First recorded as plongon.^[2]
• late 12th century – Plongons appear in Floire et Blancheflor.^[3][7]
• 13th century – The form plongeon replaces plongon.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A loon or diver, a large web-footed water bird of the genus Gavia that swims and dives well and nests in northern regions.^[3][8][1]

plongeon² dive

Etymology tree of plongeon²

inherited borrowed derived

French plonger

French plongeon

From the same root · plongeon²

French plongeur ← plonger

Pronunciation

• /plɔ̃.ʒɔ̃/^[1]

Forms

plongeon m (plural plongeons)^[1]

Etymology

The word for a dive is formed from French plonger + -on.^[3][5][9][1] The verb goes back to Vulgar Latin *plumbicō, from Latin plumbum (“lead”).^[4][1] Bloch and Wartburg derive the phrase ⟨faire le plongeon⟩ from a comparison with the diving bird, partly influenced by the verb.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Grand Robert dates it to 1466 in the sense “diver”, and to 1573 in the phrase à plongeons “while diving”;^[5] the TLFi's first record of the sense “act of plunging into water” is a 16th-century text, L'amant ressuscité, which speaks of ducks and other birds used to the dive.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

From the 17th century faire le plongeon meant to plunge, then to duck one's head under fire, and figuratively to slip away and vanish (1690), to die (1845) and to go bankrupt (1870), uses that parallel figurative senses of plonger.^[3][2][7] By likeness to the movement of a body entering the water, it came to mean a deep bow (1851).^[3][2]

The sense of a dive into water was specialized in the 19th century and spread in the 20th century as the name of the sport of diving, sometimes with figures performed during the jump.^[2] In football and rugby it names a player's horizontal leap (1908), and it also came to mean a jump into empty space from a height (1947).^[3][2]

Timeline

• 1466 – Recorded in the sense “diver”.^[5]
• 16th century – First record of the sense “act of plunging into water”.^[3][8]
• 1573 – The phrase à plongeons “while diving” is recorded.^[5]
• 1690 – Furetière records faire le plongeon “to slip away”.^[3]
• 1845 – Faire le plongeon is used for “to die”.^[3][2]
• 1851 – Used of a deep bow.^[3][2]
• 1870 – Augier uses the phrase for “to go bankrupt”.^[3]
• 1908 – A football or rugby player's horizontal leap.^[3][2]
• 1947 – A jump into empty space from a height.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A dive, the act of plunging into water: il a fait un plongeon depuis le rocher.^[8][3]
2. (sports) diving as a sport, with various figures.^[8][1]
3. (familiar) Faire le plongeon: to lose a lot of money and get into difficulty.^[8]
4. (familiar) A deep bow of the upper body.^[8][3]
5. (football) A goalkeeper's horizontal leap to catch or stop the ball.^[8][3]