tournure

Forms

tournure f (plural tournures)^[1] Old French torneüre and Middle French tourneure; the spelling tournure is found from the 16th century.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from French tourner + -ure.^[3][1] The TLFi treats it as a French derivative of the verb, with its many early technical senses all drawn from the verb.^[3][4] Rey, the Grand Robert and the GLLF instead derive it from Late Latin tornātūra (“the turner's craft”), a word of the Vulgate formed on the supine of Latin tornō (“to turn on a lathe”) and still used in Medieval Latin;^[5][6][2] Bloch and Wartburg note that the Latin word is already found in the 8th-century Reichenau Glosses.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

Jean de Meun uses torneüre about 1265 for a detour.^[2][5] The TLFi's first record is tourneure in 1324, in the accounts of the Nord archives, for a mechanism that makes something turn.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Old and Middle French the word named many things that turn or are turned: a wheel driving a millstone (1328), the movement of a wheel, a turned object, a pastry roller, and even the rennet that turns milk.^[3][5] From 1472 it meant the work of shaping on a lathe and its result; this technical sense has died out, but it left the farrier's tournure of a horseshoe (1757), the strip of peel turned off a fruit or vegetable in cooking (1767) and the metal shavings thrown off by a lathe (1832).^[5][3] About 1828 it also named a padded bustle that gave a dress a rounded back.^[5][8]

In another line of development, away from the workshop, Jean Lemaire de Belges spoke of the grosse tornure du langage in 1509, the way words are put together, which led to the narrower sense of a set construction or turn of phrase (1856).^[3][5] The same author used it in 1512 for a person's outward appearance and bearing; that sense has aged, and the 1832 sense of distinguished manners is no longer used.^[3][5] In 1692 Callières mocked the courtiers' fashionable tournures admirables.^[3] From the 18th century it was applied to the way things are presented (1690) and to the course a situation takes (1773), hence prendre une mauvaise tournure (1774) and tournure d'esprit (1701).^[5][3]

Timeline

• c. 1265 – Jean de Meun writes torneüre for a detour.^[2][5]
• 1324 – Tourneure names a turning mechanism in the Nord archives.^[3]
• 1328 – It names the wheel that drives a millstone.^[5]
• 1472 – It is used for shaping work.^[3][5]
• 1509 – Jean Lemaire de Belges applies it to the shaping of language.^[3]
• 1512 – The same author uses it for outward appearance.^[3][8]
• 1692 – Callières criticises the courtiers' fashionable tournures.^[3]
• 1701 – Tournure d'esprit is recorded.^[5]
• 1767 – A cookery dictionary uses it for a strip of peel.^[3]
• 1774 – Beaumarchais writes prendre une mauvaise tournure.^[3]
• 1828 – It names a dress bustle.^[3][5]
• 1832 – It names metal shavings from a lathe.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The way an expression or sentence is constructed, a turn of phrase or set construction: tournure impersonnelle.^[9][10]
2. The appearance or look of a thing.^[9][10]
3. The course or turn that events or a situation take: prendre tournure “to take shape”.^[10][11]
4. Tournure d'esprit: a person's way of seeing and judging things, cast of mind.^[10][5]
5. (literary, dated) A person's figure, bearing or general appearance.^[11][9][1]
6. (historical) A bustle, padding worn under a skirt at the back.^[10][11][1]
7. (technical) Metal shavings removed by a lathe.^[11][9]

Related words

• tourner
• tour²
• Latin tornō

Usage notes

The Grand Robert gives two headwords: the first, dated 1512 and taken from Medieval Latin tornātūra, covers the senses of expression and appearance, and the second, dated 1472 and formed on the verb tourner, covers the technical senses.^[6] The Petit Robert likewise separates the lathe shavings (1832) as a second word.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s 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
4. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 60a
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
8. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
9. ^ a b c d e Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)
11. ^ a b c d Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)