prototype

Forms

prototype m (plural prototypes)^[1] Early 17th-century prototipe.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin prototypos (“original form”), a noun use, with a Greek ending, of the adjective prototypus (“elementary, primitive”).^[3][4][5][6] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek πρωτότυπος (prōtótupos, “being the first type, primitive”),^[3][4][1] a compound of πρῶτος (prôtos, “first”) (whence proto-) and τύπος (túpos, “blow, impression”) (whence type).^[3][2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in Rabelais's Quart Livre (1552), meaning a type or first model.^[3][4][7]

Semantic evolution

Before 1641 Sully used it figuratively of a perfect model: he reports the King of England saying he had resolved to take Henri IV “pour modele et prototipe”.^[3][2] This use is now rarer than the corresponding use of type.^[4]

In technical language the Académie applied it in 1740 particularly to things that are moulded or engraved, and in printing it named the type founder's tool that sets the body size of a character (1803, Boiste).^[3][4][5] In industry it came to mean the first real model of an object (1877, in étalon prototype), and this became common for a car, an aircraft or a machine built before series production (un prototype d'avion, 1935).^[3][4][8] In semantics, the théorie des prototypes took its name from English.^[4] The derivatives prototyper (1830) and prototypique (1842) are both 19th-century.^[4]

Timeline

• 1552 – Rabelais uses it in the Quart Livre.^[3][7]
• Before 1641 – Sully uses prototipe for a perfect model.^[3][2]
• 1740 – The Académie records its use for moulded or engraved things.^[3][4]
• 1803 – It names a type founder's tool.^[4][5]
• 1830 – Prototyper is recorded.^[4]
• 1842 – Prototypique is recorded.^[4]
• 1877 – Étalon prototype is used of a standard.^[3]
• 1935 – The Académie records un prototype d'avion.^[3][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (formal) An original or principal type or model; an archetype: le prototype d'une statue.^[8][9][3]
2. (figurative) The most perfect or exact example of something: c'est le prototype du fonctionnaire zélé.^[10][5][2]
3. The first example of a machine, vehicle or device, built for testing before mass production: le prototype d'une voiture.^[8][10][9]
4. (printing) A type founder's tool that regulates the body size of a character.^[2][5]

Word family

• prototyper
• prototypique

Related words

• type
• archétype
• proto-
• Ancient Greek πρωτότυπος (prōtótupos)

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 9, 481a
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
10. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)