reflet

Forms

reflet m (plural reflets)^[1] The spellings reflex and reflès are found at the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th century.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian riflesso, a painters' term in Italian since the 16th century (Vasari), with the influence of réfléchir.^[5][6][2][4] The Italian noun was formed on Late Latin reflexus (“a turning back”), the past participle of Latin reflectō (“to bend back”), used as a noun.^[5][6][7][8]

Bloch and Wartburg explain the spelling ⟨reflet⟩ by Latin reflectus, and ⟨reflex⟩ (from 1662 and in the 18th century) by the form ending in ⟨-xus⟩.^[4] Littré notes that the word was not in the Académie's dictionary of 1694 and appeared in its 1718 edition as ⟨reflex⟩, with the remark that some said ⟨reflès⟩ or ⟨reflet⟩.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1651 Fréart de Chambray used it in his translation of Leonardo da Vinci's treatise on painting, for a luminous tint that plays over different grounds.^[5][6][2]

Semantic evolution

In 1677 R. de Piles defined it, still as a painting term, as what is lit in the shadows by the light thrown back from nearby lit objects.^[6] By extension it came to mean any light reflected by a body, with or without colour (1662), and so took over the optical sense of réflexion; in the same year it is found for the reflected image itself.^[5][6][7]

From that image grew the figurative sense, something that reproduces or mirrors something else, found in Marmontel in 1763.^[5][7] The verb refléter was formed from it in 1762.^[4]

Timeline

• 1651 – Fréart de Chambray's translation of Leonardo uses it as a painting term.^[5][6]
• 1662 – Reflex is used for a weakened reflection of light.^[5][7]
• 1677 – R. de Piles defines it in his Traité de la peinture.^[6][4]
• 1701 – Furetière's dictionary, 2nd edition, has reflets as a painting term.^[9]
• 1718 – The Académie's dictionary records it as reflex.^[9]
• 1762 – The verb refléter appears.^[4]
• 1763 – Marmontel uses it figuratively.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Light thrown back by a body or surface, usually weakened, with or without colour: des reflets dorés sur la mer “golden glints on the sea”.^[3][10]
2. A shade that shows on a coloured ground and changes with the light: des cheveux noirs à reflets bleus “black hair with blue glints”.^[10][3]
3. An image given back by a reflecting surface: le reflet des arbres dans l'étang “the reflection of the trees in the pond”.^[11][10]
4. (figurative) What reproduces or mirrors something else; an image, a reflection: ce roman est le reflet de son époque “this novel is a reflection of its time”.^[11][5]
5. (painting) A luminous tint thrown on one part of a picture by the light of neighbouring objects.^[5][6]

Word family

• refléter

Related words

• réfléchir
• réflexion
• Italian riflesso
• Latin reflectō

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 10, 190b
9. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)