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
- A manner of writing or expressing oneself, figure de style, a figure of speech.[8][1]
- The characteristic manner of an artist, a school or a period: style gothique, meubles de style.[1][8]
- A personal manner of behaving or dressing; flair, elegance: avoir du style.[1][8]
- (grammar) Style direct, indirect: direct, indirect speech.[5]
- The gnomon of a sundial, (history) a stylus for writing on tablets.[1][5]
- (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
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
- ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ 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
- ^ 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
- ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 12, 266b
- ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
- ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette