volcan

Forms

volcan m (plural volcans)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish volcán, first spelled with ⟨u⟩ (1575), then with ⟨o⟩ from 1598.^[2][3][4][5] The Spanish word was applied from 1524 to the “mountains of fire” of Central America, and travellers' accounts and naturalists' descriptions brought it into French.^[6][4][5][2] The TLFi notes that Spanish had it from the 13th century, of Sicily, in a form that came through Arabic from Latin Vulcānus (“Vulcan”), the Roman god of fire and the name of one of the Lipari Islands; the passage through Arabic explains the lack of a final ⟨-o⟩.^[2] Vulcan was believed to live under Etna, where he forged his father's thunderbolts.^[6][7]

An earlier Middle French vulcan, recorded once in the 14th century of Sicily, came straight from Latin according to the TLFi;^[2] Rey and the GLLF take it instead from Italian vulcano (or volcano), the name of the Lipari Islands and their volcanoes.^[6][7][1] Bloch and Wartburg give the spelling with ⟨u⟩ from 1356 until 1640.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Thevet's Cosmographie universelle of 1575 uses vulcan for a mountain that throws out fire and molten matter; the 14th-century vulcan referred to Sicily and Etna.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In the Middle Ages the word applied only to Etna and the Lipari Islands, the only volcanoes then known; after the discovery of America and through the reports of travellers and geographers it came to name any volcano, and in the 19th century it gave rise to a scientific discipline with its own technical terms.^[6] By analogy it named, from 1690, a vent from which hot water or mud escapes.^[6] Littré still describes volcans d'eau, mountains that pour out streams of water, in Guatemala.^[8]

Figuratively it was used from 1758 of a place or situation where revolt is brewing, as in Helvétius's les volcans de la sédition, and since 1794–1795 in being sur un volcan or sur le cratère d'un volcan “in imminent danger”.^[2][6] From 1769 it was said of a passion or of the imagination (mon imagination est un volcan, Cazotte, 1776), and since 1828 of a person, in Hugo.^[2][6]

Timeline

• 1356 – Vulcan is recorded, first as a proper name.^[6][3]
• 1524 – Spanish volcán is applied to the volcanoes of Central America.^[4][6]
• 1575 – Thevet's Cosmographie universelle has vulcan for a volcano.^[2]
• 1598 – Volcan appears in R. Regnault's translation of Acosta's natural history of the Indies.^[2]
• 1640 – Last record of vulcan.^[3]
• 1690 – It names a vent of hot water or mud.^[6]
• 1758 – Helvétius uses it of political unrest.^[2]
• 1776 – Cazotte writes mon imagination est un volcan.^[2]
• 1778 – The adjective volcanique is recorded.^[6]
• 1795 – Dumolard warns the Council of Five Hundred not to fall asleep sur le cratère d'un volcan.^[2]
• 1828 – Hugo applies it to a person.^[2][6]
• 1831 – Danser sur un volcan is recorded, in Salvandy.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A volcano, a mountain that throws out or has thrown out lava and other molten matter.^[5][2][10]
2. (geology) An opening in the Earth's crust through which magma reaches the surface.^[5]
3. (figurative) A dangerous situation that may erupt at any moment: être sur un volcan, danser sur un volcan.^[6][9][2]
4. (figurative) A person of impetuous, passionate temperament, or such a passion itself.^[2][6]

Word family

• volcanique
• volcanien

Related words

• Vulcain
• Latin Vulcānus
• Spanish volcán

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 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 Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ a b c Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
7. ^ a b Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
8. ^ Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
9. ^ a b Quemada, Bernard, ed. (1959–2006), Datations et documents lexicographiques (Base historique du vocabulaire français, BHVF), Paris: Klincksieck / CNRS / Champion; ATILF
10. ^ Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)