protubérant

Forms

protubérant (feminine protubérante, masculine plural protubérants, feminine plural protubérantes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin prōtūberāns (“bulging”), the present participle of prōtūberō (“to swell out”),^[2][3][4] formed from prō- (“forward”) and Imperial Latin tūberō (“to swell”), itself from tūber (“lump, swelling, tumour”).^[2][3][5] tubercule belongs to the same Latin family.^[2][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Ambroise Paré, in 1575 according to the TLFi and about 1560 according to the DHLF and the Grand Robert, for parts of the body that stick out: Ils ont les espaules protuberantes en forme d'ailes “they have shoulders jutting out like wings”.^[2][6][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The adjective has always described what juts out.^[3] From the start it was used especially in descriptions of anatomy.^[3] Its derivative protubérance first named a projection on the surface of a bone (1687), then any bulge (1783), and in astronomy the huge jets of glowing gas seen at the sun's edge (1868).^[3][7]

Timeline

• 1575 – Ambroise Paré uses it of bodily parts that jut out.^[2][6]
• 1687 – The noun protubérance is recorded.^[7][3]
• 1868 – Protubérance solaire and the adjective protubérantiel appear in astronomy.^[3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Protruding, bulging, forming a bump: un menton protubérant, une bosse protubérante.^[8][5][6]

Word family

• protubérance

Related words

• tubercule
• Latin tūber

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b c d Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert