tribune

Forms

tribune f (plural tribunes)^[1] Middle French trebune (1409).^[2][3] In the 17th century the organ gallery was also called turbine, by metathesis.^[3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian tribuna, recorded in Italian in the sense of an orators' platform from the first half of the 16th century.^[4][5] The Italian word is from Medieval Latin tribuna (recorded from 914, in Italy and Catalonia), an alteration of Latin tribūnal (“raised platform, tribunal”) in which the ending was replaced by a more frequent one.^[4][6] The isolated early records (about 1231 and 1409) were taken directly from the Medieval Latin word.^[4][3] The sense of an orator's platform was influenced by Latin tribūnus,^[4] and, as Rey puts it, by tribun.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record, about 1231 in a guide for pilgrims to Jerusalem, uses it in a church: Empres la tribune, de costé le maistre autel “beyond the tribune, beside the high altar” of the Holy Sepulchre.^[4] Rey describes this first sense as a gallery in a church reserved for certain people.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The church sense was taken up again in the 17th century (1636), and under Italian influence the word named the gallery for musicians (1688) and for the organ (1690, tribune d'orgue 1835).^[3] From 1636 it also meant a raised place reserved for a privileged few in an assembly hall or theatre;^[3] the plural les tribunes named the public seated there (1847).^[3][7] From 1872 the word was used, in place of stand, for the covered tiers of a racecourse or sports ground.^[3][8]

Under the influence of tribun, it came to mean the raised place from which Greek and Roman orators addressed the people (1606, tribune aux harangues 1615).^[3][4] With the French Revolution it entered political vocabulary as the speaker's platform of a legislative assembly (1789),^[4][3] whence l'éloquence de la tribune, recorded by the Académie in 1835.^[7][3] The preacher's pulpit was called tribune sacrée (1798).^[3]

Figuratively, from 1787 (Marmontel), it is any means of expressing ideas publicly, by speech or writing;^[4][3] Condorcet (1794) called printed books a new kind of tribune.^[4] In the press, tribune libre is a column open to writers from outside the paper (attested 1936).^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1231 – First recorded, of a gallery in the church of the Holy Sepulchre.^[4]
• 1409 – The Middle French form trebune appears.^[2][3]
• 1606 – Used of the platform of Greek and Roman orators.^[3][7]
• 1615 – Tribune aux harangues in a homily by Camus.^[4]
• 1636 – Monet records the gallery sense.^[7][3]
• 1690 – Used for the organ gallery.^[3]
• 1694 – La Bruyère uses it for a raised place from which an orator addresses an audience.^[4]
• 1787 – Marmontel uses it figuratively for a means of public expression.^[4]
• 1789 – Names the speaker's platform of the legislative assembly.^[4][3]
• 1872 – First recorded for the stands of a racecourse.^[3][7]
• 1936 – Tribune libre is attested in journalism.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A raised platform from which a speaker addresses an assembly: le ministre monte à la tribune.^[9][10]
2. (antiquity) The raised place from which Greek and Roman orators addressed the people (tribune aux harangues).^[4][11]
3. A raised gallery reserved for certain people in a church or a large public hall: tribune de presse.^[8][10][9]
4. Tribune d'orgue: the organ loft of a church.^[8][3]
5. A tiered and usually covered grandstand at a racecourse or stadium.^[9][10][8]
6. (figurative) A means or place of public expression, a forum.^[4][3]
7. Tribune libre: a newspaper column open to outside contributors.^[3]
8. (architecture) The apse of a Roman basilica, where the bishop or abbot sat with his clergy.^[4]

Related words

• tribunal
• tribun
• Medieval Latin tribuna
• Latin tribūnal

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q 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. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 254b
7. ^ a b c d e Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b c Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
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