tome

Forms

tome m (plural tomes)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Late Latin tomus (“roll of papyrus, book”),^[2][3][4] which in Latin of the imperial period meant “piece, part”.^[2][5] The Latin word is from Ancient Greek τόμος (tómos, “piece cut off, portion”), from τέμνω (témnō, “to cut”).^[2][6][7] In Greek it was used especially of a piece of papyrus or parchment, hence “volume”, a fascicle of leaves as opposed to the rolled volume.^[3] The TLFi dates the borrowing before September 1544 (Marot); the Grand Robert and the Petit Robert give 1530 and the GLLF 1538.^[2][7][8][5]

Cognate with Italian tomo, Spanish tomo and Portuguese tomo.^[9] The original sense “portion” survives in Spanish and Italian.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Clément Marot uses it, in an epigram to Étienne Dolet written before September 1544, for a volume or bound book.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Borrowed as a printing term for a bound volume, the word had lost this general sense by the 18th century: the Académie called it rare in 1740.^[3] It came instead to mean chiefly one of the volumes of a work in several (1549, Robert Estienne).^[2][3][5]

Madame de Sévigné used it figuratively for “part” in 1675, and Féraud recorded faire le second tome de quelqu'un “to be someone's double” in 1788; both uses have gone out of use.^[2][3] In English, tome is recorded from the 1510s, from the French word or directly from Latin.^[10]

Timeline

• 1510s – English tome is recorded.^[10]
• Before 1544 – Clément Marot uses it for a bound volume.^[2]
• 1549 – Robert Estienne records the sense “one volume of a work in several”.^[2][5]
• 1675 – Madame de Sévigné uses le premier tome figuratively for “the first part”.^[2]
• 1740 – The Académie calls the sense “volume, bound book” rare.^[3]
• 1788 – Féraud records faire le second tome de quelqu'un.^[2][3]
• 1801 – Mercier records the derivative tomer.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A division of a work planned by the author or the publisher, which need not match a physical volume: un roman en trois tomes, le tome II.^[8][2]
2. A volume, a tome.^[8][1]
3. (obsolete, figurative) A part: faire le second tome de quelqu'un, to resemble someone closely.^[6][3]

Word family

• tomer
• tomaison

Related words

• Latin tomus
• Ancient Greek τόμος (tómos)
• -tomie
• English tome

Usage notes

Tome is also a feminine spelling of tomme, a mountain cheese, a word of different origin from Franco-Provençal tôma;^[1] the TLFi records the spelling tome in this sense in 1850.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
5. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ a b Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
7. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com