violon

Forms

violon m (plural violons)^[1] First written vyollon or vyolon (about 1500); violon from 1533–1537.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

The TLFi derives it from French viole + -on, with the diminutive suffix, and notes an isolated 13th-century Old Occitan violon (“concert of viols”).^[2][1] The Grand Robert, the Petit Robert and Rey instead take it from Italian violone (“large viol, double bass”), formed from viola with the augmentative suffix -one: since the Italian for the violin is the diminutive violino, the French sense would come from reading the Italian suffix as a diminutive.^[3][5][6] Bloch and Wartburg too set the Italian word beside it.^[7]

That noun is from Old Occitan viola (“viol”), of disputed origin, perhaps onomatopoeic.^[2][7] The Italian word, recorded from 1538, passed into German Violine, English violin, Portuguese violino and Spanish violín.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first record, as vyollon, is in Le Triumphe des Vestementz at the beginning of the 16th century, for a stringed instrument.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

By metonymy it named the violin player from 1533, a use now kept in phrases such as premier violon (1783), elsewhere replaced by violoniste.^[2][3] Its settings ranged from court music to dance and village music; the roi des violons (1690) was the musician at the head of the dancing masters.^[3] Molière's payer les violons du bal pour faire danser les autres (1671), “to bear the cost of something without the benefit”, gave the modern payer les violons.^[2][3] Accorder ses violons “to come to an agreement” (1911) renews the 15th-century accorder ses vielles.^[3][2]

The violon d'Ingres (1907), a talent pursued beside one's main work, alludes to the painter Ingres, who played the violin for pleasure.^[3][2] In the Revolutionary period (1790–1792) violon came to mean a police lock-up, perhaps by comparison of the strings with prison bars, or by ellipsis of boîte à violon.^[2][3] From 1812 it named tools recalling the instrument's shape or bow, such as a hand drill turned by a bow, and on ships the cords stretched over tables to stop dishes sliding (1872).^[2][3] In Quebec tête de violon is the edible shoot of a fern, a calque of English fiddle head.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 1500 – Vyollon appears in Le Triumphe des Vestementz.^[2][3]
• 1533 – Used of a violin player in the accounts of Francis I.^[2][3]
• 1656 – The verb violoner “to play the violin” is recorded.^[3]
• 1671 – Molière writes payer les violons du bal pour faire danser les autres.^[2]
• 1690 – Furetière records roi des violons.^[4][3]
• 1729 – violoneux appears in Marivaux.^[2]
• 1790 – First recorded for a police lock-up.^[3][4]
• 1812 – Mozin and Biber record the sense “bow drill”.^[2]
• 1828 – violoniste is first recorded.^[7]
• 1907 – Farrère uses violon d'Ingres.^[2][3]
• 1911 – Accorder ses violons appears in Châteaubriant.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A violin, the four-stringed instrument played with a bow, for example Elle joue du violon depuis l'enfance.^[6][2]
2. A violin player, especially in an orchestra: premier violon, second violon.^[6][3]
3. Violon d'Ingres: a hobby at which one excels.^[2][3]
4. (familiar) A police lock-up: mettre au violon.^[3][1]
5. Payer les violons: to bear the cost of something from which others profit.^[2][3]
6. (technical) A hand drill worked with a bow; on ships, a fiddle of cords that keeps dishes on the table.^[2]

Word family

• violoneux
• violoniste

Related words

• violoncelle
• viole
• vielle
• Italian violino

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 u v 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 n o p q r s t u Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
4. ^ a b c Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
5. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b c Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France