pyramide

Forms

pyramide f (plural pyramides)^[1] Old French piramide (mid-12th century). The spelling pyramide appears in the 14th century.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin pȳramis (“pyramid”), which is from Ancient Greek πυραμίς (puramís).^[3][4][1] The Greek word named both the great Egyptian monument, with the geometric figure it forms, and a cake of roasted wheat grains mixed with honey.^[4] In the sense “cake” it is made on πυρός (purós, “wheat”), and it has been suggested that the pyramids were named after the shape of such a cake, though nothing proves the cake was pyramidal.^[4][5] Rey says that a borrowing from an Egyptian word for “height” has been ruled out.^[4]

Littré reports that the Greeks themselves linked the word either with πῦρ (pûr, “fire”), because a flame ends in a point, or with the conical cake offered to the dead.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1150 in the Roman de Thèbes, naming the monument.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

From the Egyptian monument the word spread to similar buildings elsewhere, such as those of pre-Columbian Mexico.^[4] It was taken up in geometry for a polyhedron whose triangular faces meet at a point (1361), whence en pyramide (1531).^[4][6]

By analogy it named a heap rising from a broad base to a point (15th century), especially in pyramide humaine (1831), and in painting the pyramidal arrangement of a composition (1765).^[4] Pyramide des âges (1962) refers to the graph of a population by age.^[4] In anatomy it names a bony projection in the middle ear (1812) and a ridge of the medulla (1842).^[4]

Timeline

• c. 1150 – First recorded, as piramide, in the Roman de Thèbes.^[3][2]
• 1361 – First used in geometry.^[4][6]
• 1370 – Oresme describes the geometric figure.^[3][5]
• 1531 – En pyramide is recorded.^[4]
• 1563 – Palissy uses it for a pyramid-shaped heap.^[3]
• 1765 – Used in painting for a pyramidal composition.^[4]
• 1831 – Pyramide humaine is recorded.^[4]
• 1962 – Pyramide des âges is recorded.^[4][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A great monument with a square base and four triangular faces meeting at a point, built as a tomb for the pharaohs of Egypt, also a similar structure elsewhere: les pyramides de Gizeh.^[6][7][3]
2. (geometry) A polyhedron whose base is a polygon and whose lateral faces are triangles with a common apex.^[6][7]
3. A pile or arrangement rising from a broad base to a point: une pyramide de fruits.^[3][4]
4. Pyramide humaine: a group of acrobats standing on one another's shoulders.^[4]
5. Pyramide des âges: a graph showing a population by age.^[4]
6. (anatomy) A pyramid-shaped projection, as in the middle ear or the medulla.^[4]

Word family

• pyramider
• pyramidion
• pyramidé

Related words

• pyramidal
• Latin pȳramis

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 o p q r s Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)