tonner

Forms

tonner (impersonal)^[1] Old French toner.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Old French toner, inherited from Latin tonō (“to thunder, to resound loudly”).^{[4][5][6][7][8]} In Latin the subject was first Jupiter; the verb was then used impersonally, the thunder being the subject, and also with a person as subject, “to vent one's anger loudly”.^[5] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *(s)tenh₂- (“to thunder”);^[1] Rey compares Old English þunor (“thunder”) and the English word thunder, and notes words meaning “to groan” in other languages that suggest contact between two related roots, without settling its nature.^[5]

Cognate with Italian tonare, Romanian tuna, Spanish tronar, Catalan tronar, Old Occitan tronar and Portuguese troar.^[9][6][3] Meyer-Lübke suggests that the /r/ of the western forms may have spread as a sound-imitating element from verbs such as Latin tremō.^[9]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found about 1120 in the Oxford Psalter, with God as subject: E sur els es ciels tonerad li sire “and the Lord shall thunder upon them in the heavens”.^[10][3][5] The Trésor's first record is the Voyage de Charlemagne (about 1140), where it means “to make a noise as loud as thunder”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The verb kept the Latin sense, used impersonally or with God or the sky as subject;^[5] Wace has the impersonal il tonne about 1155 and Dieu tonnant in the Roman de Rou.^[4] By analogy it soon meant “to make a noise like thunder” (about 1150), of cannon in later use.^[5][10]

With a person as subject, “to shout or speak loudly in anger”, it came later: first in a rare transitive use (about 1550), then commonly as an intransitive verb from 1622, as in Boileau (1671) and La Fontaine (1678).^{[5][11][10][12]} The present participle tonnant has been an adjective since about 1155.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 1120 – First record, in the Oxford Psalter.^[10][5]
• c. 1140 – “To make a noise like thunder”, in the Voyage de Charlemagne.^[4]
• c. 1155 – Impersonal use in Wace's Brut.^[4]
• c. 1155 – The participle tonant is used as an adjective.^[5]
• 1160–1174 – Dieu tonnant in Wace's Roman de Rou.^[4]
• c. 1550 – Rare transitive use, “to utter angrily”.^[5][11]
• 1622 – “To speak loudly in anger”.^[5][11]
• 1671 – Boileau uses it of angry speech.^[10][12]

Meanings

Verb

1. (impersonal) Il tonne: it thunders, thunder is heard.^[11][4][1]
2. (rare) To make thunder break out, with God or the sky as subject.^[11][4]
3. To make a noise like thunder: les canons tonnaient toute la nuit.^[11][4][10]
4. To speak very loudly in anger, to fulminate: tonner contre la corruption.^[11][10][3]

Word family

• tonnant

Related words

• tonnerre
• tonitruant
• Latin tonō

Usage notes

Littré records the phrases on n'entendrait pas Dieu tonner, said of a deafening noise, and tonner sur les choux, “to wield one's authority over what cannot resist”.^[3] The Trésor cites the proverb quand il tonne en avril, le laboureur se réjouit.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
7. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
8. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 23a
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
11. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
12. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF