terminateur

Forms

terminateur m (plural terminateurs)^[1] Feminine terminatrice, used as an adjective.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin terminātor (“one who sets boundaries, who delimits”), a word of the imperial period according to the TLFi and of Late Latin according to the GLLF and Rey.^[2][4][5] The Latin noun is formed on the supine of terminō (“to mark the boundaries of, to end”), the source of terminer.^[3][4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

In 1546 Focard's Paraphrase de l'Astrolabe calls the oblique horizon “terminateur de la veuë”, the circle that bounds the view, because it divides the upper hemisphere from the lower.^[2] The GLLF and Rey date this first use to 1555, as a noun meaning “that which delimits”.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

From its first use as a noun for what sets a limit, the word was taken up in the 18th century as a rare adjective meaning “that ends, that bounds”: Diderot wrote of the circle terminateur of light and shadow.^[5][4] In astronomy it was first an adjective (1765, in the Encyclopédie) for the line dividing light from shadow, and became a noun for that line, the limit of sunlight on the Moon's surface, in the late 19th century (1884 according to Rey).^[2][5][4] The general adjective is now dated.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 1546 – Focard calls the oblique horizon “terminateur de la veuë”.^[2]
• 1555 – The GLLF and Rey's date for the first use, as a noun.^[4][5]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses it, as adjective and noun, for the line between light and shadow.^[2][4]
• Before 1784 – Diderot uses it as an adjective, “that ends, that bounds”.^[4][5]
• 1884 – The astronomical noun is established, according to Rey.^[5]
• 1923 – The Larousse records the noun.^[4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. (dated) That ends or delimits something.^[2][3][4]

Noun

1. (astronomy) The terminator: the line dividing the lit part of a planet or of the Moon from its dark part.^[2][4]

Related words

• terminer
• terminaison
• déterminer
• exterminer
• Latin terminus

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i 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 Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ a b c d e f g Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette