sculpter

Forms

sculpter^[1]

Etymology

It is most likely the old verb from Middle French sculper (“to engrave, to carve”), remade after sculpteur,^[2][1] and, Rey adds, after sculpture.^[3] The TLFi and Rey also allow that it was formed on sculptum, the supine of Latin sculpō (“to carve”), under the influence of sculptor; the GLLF takes it this way.^[2][3][4] The older verb was itself borrowed from the Latin one (late 15th century);^[2][1] it was displaced by the present form at the end of the 18th century.^[2]

Rey says the Latin verb has no known etymology and was built on the model of the compounds of scalpō (“to scratch, to carve”) (see scalpel).^[3] French also borrowed it as esculpir (“to engrave”) (15th century, in use until 1771) and insculpter, from insculpō.^[3] Littré compares Occitan esculpir, Spanish esculpir and Italian scolpire.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLFi's first record, sculpteir in Jean d'Outremeuse's Myreur des histors (third quarter of the 14th century), means “to engrave, to carve in a hard material”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Taken up again about 1506, the verb stayed rare until the 18th century; the Académie recorded it in 1718.^[3][6] Littré notes that in the 17th century it was pronounced sculper.^[5] It took its modern sense in the 18th century: the past participle sculpté “decorated with sculptures” (1731), figures sculptées (1732), the absolute use “to make sculpture” (1765, Diderot) and sculpter une statue (1769).^[2][3][4] From the mid-19th century, with rain or the elements as subject, it means to shape something into reliefs and hollows.^[3] The noun sculptage dates from 1842.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1350–1375 – Sculpteir appears in Jean d'Outremeuse.^[2]
• late 15th century – The older verb sculper is recorded.^[2]
• 1718 – The Académie records sculpter.^[3][6]
• 1731 – Sculpté means “decorated with sculptures”.^[2]
• 1765 – Diderot uses it absolutely, “to make sculpture”.^[2][4]
• 1769 – Sculpter une statue is recorded.^[2]
• end of the 18th century – Sculper gives way to sculpter.^[2]
• 1842 – The noun sculptage appears.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. To produce a work of art in three dimensions by carving a hard material: sculpter un lion dans le grès.^[6][7]
2. To carve or shape a hard material, or decorate it with sculptures: sculpter du chêne.^[6][7][8]
3. (intransitive) To practise sculpture.^[8][6]
4. (figurative) To shape, to mould.^[6][4]

Word family

• sculptage

Related words

• sculpteur
• sculpture
• scalpel
• Latin sculpō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
6. ^ a b c d e f 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)
8. ^ a b Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)