tronc

Forms

tronc m (plural troncs)^[1] Old French trunc (1155), then tronc from about 1175, also tron.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin truncus (“trunk of a tree, trunk of the body”).^[2][3][5] The Latin noun is the adjective of the same form, “lopped, maimed”, used as a noun.^[6][7] Rey calls both of uncertain origin, perhaps related to trux (“fierce”), or with reservations to a Greek verb meaning “to wear away by rubbing”.^[3] Old French also had a feminine tronche, from *trunca, still used for a tree trunk in northern dialects.^[8]

Cognate with Italian tronco, Spanish tronco and Old Occitan tronc.^[8][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

In its first record, Wace's Brut (1155), trunc is the body of a tree between the roots and the branches.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As in Latin, the word developed several senses by analogy.^[3] About 1245 it meant the main line of a family, from which the other branches spring, and in 1314 the surgeon Henri de Mondeville used it for the main stem of a nerve or vessel.^[2][3] By metonymy it named a box with a slot for alms in churches, first cut from a tree trunk (13th century).^[3][8] It was used of the human torso from 1559 and of the body of any vertebrate from 1611.^[2][3]

Architecture took up tronc de colonne in 1636, and geometry tronc de cône and tronc de pyramide in the 1870s.^[2][3] Tronc commun, a common origin, came to mean about 1960 the common part of a course of study before it divides.^[3][2] The slang sense “head” (1926) is less common than the feminine tronche.^[3]

Timeline

• 1155 – Trunc in Wace's Brut.^[2]
• 1176–1181 – The form tronc in Chrétien de Troyes' Chevalier au lion.^[2]
• c. 1245 – The main line of a family.^[2][3]
• 1314 – Anatomical sense, in Henri de Mondeville.^[2]
• 15th century – An alms box in a church.^[2]
• 1559 – The human torso, in Amyot.^[2]
• 1636 – Tronc de colonne.^[2]
• 1964 – Tronc commun in education.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. The trunk of a tree, between the roots and the main branches.^[9][10][2]
2. (anatomy) The trunk of the body, the torso without head and limbs.^[9][2]
3. (anatomy) The main stem of a nerve or blood vessel: tronc cérébral.^[7][1]
4. An alms box in a church, with a slot for offerings: le tronc des pauvres.^[10][8]
5. Tronc commun: a common core of courses or elements before they divide.^[10][9]
6. (geometry) The part of a solid between its base and a parallel section: tronc de cône.^[3][2]

Word family

• tronchet
• tronconique

Related words

• tronche
• tronçon
• tronquer
• Latin truncus

Usage notes

The final ⟨c⟩ is not pronounced;^[7] Littré notes that in the plural the ⟨s⟩ is linked before a vowel.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c 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 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 m Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Wartburg, Walther von, et al. (1922–2002), Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 25 vols., Bonn / Leipzig / Basel: Klopp / Teubner / Zbinden, p. 13/2, 339a
6. ^ Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d e Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
9. ^ a b c 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)