tubulaire

Forms

tubulaire (plural tubulaires)^[1]

Etymology

It is a learned formation from Latin tubulus (“small pipe, small duct”) with the suffix -aire.^[2][3][4][5] The Latin word is a diminutive of tubus (“pipe, tube”).^[6][4][7] Wiktionary analyses it as formed on tube instead.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first recorded in 1752 in pierres tubulaires, in Élie Bertrand's memoir on the inner structure of the earth.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

From 1755 the adjective means “tube-shaped”, and it spread in the 19th century.^[2][4] The noun, from 1765 in the Encyclopédie, names a genus of hydroid polyps, called tubularia in the 17th century.^[2][4][8] Engineering added chaudière tubulaire (1766), the tubular bridge (1874) and the boiler's faisceau tubulaire (1887); later the adjective came to mean “made of metal tubes”, as in tubular scaffolding and furniture.^[8][2][6] Huysmans used it in 1903 of fabrics falling in rounded, tube-like folds.^[2]

Timeline

• 1752 – Élie Bertrand writes of pierres tubulaires.^[2][6]
• 1755 – Dezallier d'Argenville uses it in the sense “tube-shaped”.^[2][6]
• 1765 – The Encyclopédie uses the noun for a polyp.^[2][4]
• 1766 – Chaudière tubulaire is recorded.^[8]
• 1874 – Michelet writes of a pont tubulaire.^[2]
• 1903 – Huysmans writes of étoffes tubulaires.^[2]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Shaped like a tube, cylindrical.^[8][2][7]
2. Made of metal tubes fitted together: échafaudage tubulaire.^[8][6][7]
3. (engineering) Of a boiler or heat exchanger in which the fluid runs through tubes.^[6][8]
4. (biology) Of an organ or organism that is tube-shaped.^[7]

Noun

1. (zoology) A large hydroid polyp on a long stalk with two crowns of tentacles.^[8][2]

Word family

• aquatubulaire

Related words

• tube
• tubulé
• tubuleux
• tubulure
• tubule
• Latin tubulus

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 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. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c d e f Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
6. ^ a b c d e f g Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c d Académie française (1992–2024), Dictionnaire de l'Académie française, 9th ed., Paris: Académie française / Fayard / Imprimerie nationale
8. ^ a b c d e f g Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert