quartz

Forms

quartz m (invariable)^[1] First written quertz (1729), then quartz (Buffon, 1749).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from German Quarz, a German word recorded since the 14th century,^[2][3][4] where it was first a term of the Bohemian mines.^[3] The Grand Robert notes that the miners used it long before the naturalists took it up.^[4]

The origin of the German word is disputed.^[3][4] Most often it is traced to a West Slavic word for “hard” (compare Czech tvrdý and Polish twardy), from Proto-Slavic *tvьrdъ (“hard”).^[3][1][5] Another view, going back to 1857, makes it a form of German Zwerg (“dwarf”) with an East Middle German initial ⟨qu-⟩ and a pet-name ending ⟨-tz⟩, a naming like that of nickel and cobalt.^[3] Littré records earlier attempts to connect it with Warze (“wart, nipple”) or with Latin quadrātus (“square”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Louis Bourguet's Lettres philosophiques sur la formation des sels et des crystaux (1729) has the form quertz, for the mineral.^[2] The GLLF names the author of the 1729 record as Bouguer.^[7]

Semantic evolution

Corrected to quartz by Buffon in 1749, the word has kept its sense of a crystalline mineral of silica found in igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary rocks.^[3][2] It spread into everyday language around 1950 with montre à quartz and réveil à quartz, clocks and watches whose movement uses a vibrating quartz crystal.^[3]

English took the word from German as well, in 1756.^[5]

Timeline

• 1729 – The form quertz appears in Bourguet's Lettres philosophiques.^[2]
• 1749 – Buffon writes quartz in his Histoire naturelle.^[2][8][3]
• 1756 – English quartz is first recorded, from German.^[5]
• 1771 – The adjective quartzeux is recorded.^[2][3]
• 1823 – Quartzite names a rock made of quartz grains.^[3]
• c. 1950 – Montre à quartz comes into general use.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (mineralogy) quartz, crystalline silica, a common mineral of rocks and sands; its colourless pure form is rock crystal, and its coloured kinds include amethyst.^[9][2]
2. A quartz crystal used in timekeeping: une montre à quartz, a quartz watch.^[3][9]

Word family

• quartzeux
• quartzite
• quartzifère
• quartzique

Related words

• German Quarz
• English quartz

References

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