topographie

Forms

topographie f (plural topographies)^[1]

Etymology

The TLFi and the DHLF give it as borrowed from Ancient Greek τοπογραφία (topographía, “description of a place”);^[2][3] for the Grand Robert, the GLLF and Picoche it is borrowed from Late Latin topographia.^[4][5][6][7] The Greek word is a compound of τόπος (tópos, “place”) and γράφω (gráphō, “to write”).^[4][5][1] The DMF records it under the FEW's Ancient Greek τοπογράφος (topográphos).^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded, spelt topografie, in Octavien de Saint-Gelais's Séjour d'Honneur (1489–1494), for a detailed description of a place.^[2][3] The Grand Robert and the GLLF date it from Maurice Scève in 1544.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word first named the written description or the detailed map of a place;^[3][5][9] Courteline still used it in 1893 for a long-winded description of a place.^[3][5][9] In traditional rhetoric it named the figure that describes a place in detail (Encyclopédie, 1765).^[2][3]

The technical sense, the surveying of maps and plans of land on a reduced scale as if the earth were flat, is dated 1757 by the Petit Robert;^[9] the TLFi and the DHLF date the art of representing the shape of the ground on paper from Bescherelle in 1845, and it has become the commonest sense.^[2][3] From this it also means the relief and layout of a place itself.^[7][10] The familiar clipping topo (1855) later came to mean a sketch plan and then a talk or exposition.^[3]

Timeline

• 1489–1494 – Topografie in Octavien de Saint-Gelais's Séjour d'Honneur.^[2][3]
• 1544 – Maurice Scève uses it.^[4][5]
• 1757 – First used for the surveying of land.^[9]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie records it as a figure of rhetoric.^[2][3]
• 1845 – Bescherelle records the art of mapping the shape of the ground.^[2][3]
• 1855 – The clipping topo appears.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The technique of surveying and drawing maps and plans of land on a reduced scale, treating the earth as flat.^{[2][9][7][10]}
2. The configuration and relief of a place, a piece of land or a country: une topographie vallonnée.^[7][10]
3. Topographie historique: the combined methods used to identify ancient sites.^[2][7]
4. (rare) A detailed description of a place.^[9][11]
5. (rhetoric) The figure that describes a place in detail.^[2][3]

Word family

• topographique
• topo

Related words

• topographe
• toponymie
• topique
• Ancient Greek τοπογραφία (topographía)

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
6. ^ Picoche, Jacqueline (1991), Dictionnaire étymologique du français, Paris: Le Robert (Les Usuels du Robert)
7. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
8. ^ Dictionnaire du Moyen Français, version 2015 (DMF 2015), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/dmf
9. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette