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tronçon

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Etymology and origin of the French word tronçon

Confidence
Probable
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 1100 Chanson de Roland More words from the 11th century
Ultimate origin
Latin truncus
Derivations

Pronunciation

  • /tʁɔ̃.sɔ̃/[1]

Forms

tronçon m (plural tronçons)[1] Old French trunçun (c. 1100), tronson and tronchon.[2][3][4] Anglo-Norman spellings include tronchun, trunchoun and tronsoun.[5]

Etymology

It is formed from Old French trons (“piece, stump”) + -on, first recorded as trunçun in the Chanson de Roland.[2][4][6][7] The TLFi accepts this origin despite a slight gap in the dates, the base being recorded only about 1180, later than the derivative.[2] The base comes from Vulgar Latin *trunceus (“truncated”), from Latin truncus (“lopped, mutilated”).[2][4][8][6] According to Rey the modern form, found about 1135, is an alteration of the first one, probably after tronc.[4] Littré instead derived the word straight from the noun for the trunk.[3]

Cognate with Old Occitan tronson, Spanish troncón and Italian troncone.[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In the Chanson de Roland (about 1100) a knight's lance is broken and only a truncun, a broken piece of the shaft, is left in his hand.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From its first records the word has meant a cut or broken piece of a thing longer than it is wide, and it spread only into particular uses:[4] a cut-off part of a fish, snake or worm (1240),[4][9] a log sawn from a tree trunk (1470),[2][4] the solid part of a horse's tail (1680, Richelet),[2] and in architecture a drum of a column (1701, Furetière).[2][4] Some old uses, for a small bit of food, a strand of wicker or silk, have died out.[4]

Since 1835 (Lamartine, of a river) it has also meant a section of a line, road or railway.[2][4] The figurative sense “a part of a logical or chronological series” appears in 1690.[2]

English truncheon was borrowed from Old North French tronchon about 1300;[10] Etymonline derives that word from Vulgar Latin *truncio.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 1100 – Trunçun in the Chanson de Roland.[2]
  • c. 1135 – Dous tronçons in the Couronnement de Louis.[2][4]
  • c. 1180 – The base trons is recorded.[2]
  • c. 1200 – The derivative tronçonner appears.[4]
  • 1240 – Used of a cut-off part of a fish or snake.[4]
  • 1470 – Tronchon names a log cut from an oak.[2]
  • 1690 – Furetière records the figurative sense “part of a series”.[2]
  • 1701 – Colonne par tronçons in architecture.[2]
  • 1835 – Lamartine uses it of a stretch of a river.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A piece cut or broken off something longer than it is wide; a stump or fragment: un tronçon de lance.[9][2]
  2. A cut-off piece of an eel, snake or worm, or a fish cut across into slices: des tronçons de congre.[9][3]
  3. (architecture) A drum of stone forming part of a column shaft: colonne en tronçons.[9][3]
  4. A section or stretch of a road, railway, river or distance.[9][2]
  5. (horse riding, dated) The solid part of a horse's tail, near the croup.[3][2]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t 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 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 k l m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
  5. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
  6. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
  7. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 337b
  8. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
  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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Tronçon.” Etymologically, 15 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/fr/tron%C3%A7on. Accessed 15 Nov. 2026.

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