style

Pronunciation

• IPA: /stil/^[1]

Forms

style m (plural styles)^[1] Old French estile (about 1280–90), stile (14th century); the learned spelling style from the late 14th century.^[2][3][4] The Académie wrote stile and style in 1694 and 1718, style from 1740.^[5]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin stilus (“pointed stake; writing stylus; manner of writing”).^[2][5][6][7] The ⟨y⟩ comes from a false connection with Ancient Greek στῦλος (stûlos, “column”).^[2][6][8] In Latin the word named any pointed stem, especially the iron or bone point for writing on wax tablets; in rhetoric it came to mean a written exercise and a manner of writing, then a manner or custom in general.^[2] Littré instead took the Latin word from the Greek one.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

About 1290 Walter of Bibbesworth uses estile for a manner of acting; in law stille was a customary rule of procedure (1346).^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

From a manner of acting the word passed to a manner of speaking (about 1393, Ménagier de Paris) and, in the 16th century, a manner of writing (1536), with hault stille and stille bas.^[5][6] In the 17th century it was applied to the fine arts (1699, Roger de Piles), the character of a language (1671) and the general character of the works of a country or period (Voltaire, 1734).^[5][6] In grammar style direct appears in Flaubert (1870) and style indirect in 1913.^[5]

The Latin concrete sense was borrowed about 1380 for the writing stylus, whence the gnomon of a sundial (1562), a surgical instrument (1672) and, in botany, the style of a flower.^[5][6][1] Derivatives include stylé (14th century), styliste (1845) and styliser (late 19th century).^[6]

Timeline

• c. 1290 – Estile “manner of acting”.^[5]
• 1346 – A rule of legal procedure.^[5][4]
• c. 1380 – Stile, a writing stylus.^[4][6]
• c. 1393 – A manner of speaking.^[5]
• 1536 – A manner of writing.^[5]
• 1562 – The gnomon of a sundial.^[5]
• 1699 – In the fine arts.^[5]
• 1734 – Voltaire: the style of a nation's writers.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A manner of writing or expressing oneself, figure de style, a figure of speech.^[8][1]
2. The characteristic manner of an artist, a school or a period: style gothique, meubles de style.^[1][8]
3. A personal manner of behaving or dressing; flair, elegance: avoir du style.^[1][8]
4. (grammar) Style direct, indirect: direct, indirect speech.^[5]
5. The gnomon of a sundial, (history) a stylus for writing on tablets.^[1][5]
6. (botany) The style of a flower.^[1]

Word family

• styliser
• styliste
• stylistique

Related words

• stylet
• Latin stilus

Usage notes

Wiktionary also records a literary style meaning “pillar, column”, from Greek στῦλος (stûlos).^[1] The Grand Robert gives the stylus and gnomon senses a numbered entry of their own.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 266b
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette