tonne

Forms

tonne f (plural tonnes)^[1] Old French tone;^[2][3] Anglo-Norman tonne, tune.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Late Latin tunna (also tonna), recorded from the 8th century in Alcuin and in the Kassel Glosses for a vessel for oil or grain, a jar or cask.^[4][5][6] The Latin word is generally held to be Celtic and is linked with Old Irish tonn (“skin”): the sense would have passed from “skin” to “leather bag, wineskin” and then to “cask”.^[4][6][7] Bloch and Wartburg find this explanation doubtful.^[8] Littré mentions the possibility that all the forms are variants of Latin tīna (“vat”).^[3]

Only French and Catalan tona inherited the Latin word, according to Rey;^[6] German Tonne and English tun were taken from Romance.^[8][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded about 1283 in Philippe de Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis, for a large cask: douze tones de vin “twelve tuns of wine”.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

The word named a large container of staves held by hoops, and by metonymy its contents (1690), a sense that has aged as the derivative tonneau took over.^[6][4] From its rounded shape it came to name a round shell (1676), a wooden or iron buoy (1690) and, in the history of armour, a skirt of plates (1904).^[6][9]

The idea of great capacity led to its use as a unit: of a ship's capacity from 1681, and in the metric system of a mass of 1,000 kilograms (1842).^[6][10] It is also used loosely of a huge amount (1812), and in units of transport and of vehicle weight, as tonne kilométrique (1833).^[6][9] English took tonne in 1877 for the metric ton.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1283 – First recorded in Beaumanoir's Coutumes de Beauvaisis.^[4]
• 1676 – Félibien uses it for a round shell.^[4]
• 1681 – It is a unit of a ship's capacity.^[6][10]
• 1690 – Furetière records the sense “contents of a tun”.^[4]
• 1812 – First recorded for a huge amount.^[6]
• 1842 – The Académie's supplement records the metric unit of 1,000 kg.^[4]
• 1877 – English borrows tonne for the metric ton.^[11]
• 1957 – The compound kilotonne appears.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. (technical) A very large cask, wider than a tonneau; also its contents.^[10][4]
2. (nautical) A rounded buoy.^[10][3]
3. (zoology) A rounded univalve shell.^[10][4]
4. A tonne, a unit of mass of 1,000 kilograms; also a unit of a ship's displacement or load.^[10][6]
5. (familiar) A huge quantity: des tonnes de lettres.^[6][10]

Word family

• entonner
• tonnelier
• tonneau
• tonnelle
• kilotonne
• tonnelet

Usage notes

In some regions, especially the Puy-de-Dôme, tonne means an arbour and then a hut in the vineyards (Lyon area, 1553); the Petit Robert treats it as a separate headword.^[6][10]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
3. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 414a
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
10. ^ a b c d e f g h Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com